‘AI driving new wave of travel fraud’ Travel Weekly reporters


Agents are being urged to be more alert about scams as fraudsters become increasingly convincing, thanks to advances in AI. Amanda Matthews, co-owner


of Designer Travel, warned in her column for Travel Weekly that the travel agent community has reached a “tipping point”, and the sector needs to be “more vigilant than ever”. Steve Howell, head of Barclays


threat intelligence told the Barclays Travel Forum last month: “The big challenge we see is around identity. It’s really at the forefront of attacks [and] a lot of that is down to AI, which is making copying identity really easy. “We see a lot of fraud now involving impersonation. The


number-one safety thing to be conscious of is the need to verify who you’re speaking to.” Matthews said the agency sector


is shifting “rapidly”, with the “increasing ease” of becoming an agent meaning barriers to entry have “vanished”. “When you combine this with


advances in AI-generated deception and a global spike in cybercrime, we must have our wits about us at all times,” she added, noting her luxury agency had had to “navigate” several instances of fraud over the past year. She said professional fraudsters


often “groom” agents by researching personal and professional life on social media to create “a false sense of trust” before making a last-minute booking. “This aligns perfectly with the prime timeframe for a chargeback


Gulf tourism sector ‘riding out crisis and hoping for recovery’


Ian Taylor


Gulf carriers and destinations hope for an imminent end to the crisis in the region despite a resumption of missile and drone attacks this week, with plans focused on a post-war tourism rebound rather than adapting for a lengthy shutdown. Emirates announced it had


restored 96% of its pre-war network this week and Gulf airports have retained their workforce levels. Rob Johnston, assistant general


secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation


4 7 MAY 2026


(ITF), said: “[Gulf] airports were quick to let workforces go during Covid, then struggled to recover afterwards. Now we see a willingness to retain the workforce.” The ITF represents fewer


workers in hospitality than transport, but Johnston said: “It’s similar in hotels to transport. There seems a willingness in the short term to try to ride this out and hope for a recovery.” He noted: “There is a degree


of nervousness – a question whether the region will return to its previous volume of traffic and what it will take to get there. “One of the reasons the Gulf


Advances in


AI-generated deception mean we must have our wits about us


to be processed before the travel has even concluded,” she said, urging agents to request bank transfers for last-minute travel and to act like private investigators to verify clients. Third-party card fraud is another


problem, she added, commenting: “We have even witnessed cases where individuals pose as independent agents, using our secure payment links to pay for their own holidays using their unsuspecting clients’ card details.” Meanwhile, “friendly fraud”


Dubai


is increasing, with holidaymakers approaching credit card companies to initiate a chargeback, claiming services were defective. “The current system is heavily


weighted against the merchant. Card companies often trigger a chargeback automatically, regardless of the evidence,” Matthews said. She urged the industry to lobby


credit card companies to be required “to investigate the validity of a claim before snatching funds back from small businesses”. The warnings came as French


aerospace and defence group Thales identified the retail and travel sectors as “the most-targeted industries” for ‘bad bot’ activity; travel accounting


for 17% of all attacks and retail 24%. i Comment, page 10


states were able to develop as major hubs was a perception they were safe and not affected by the tensions in the Middle East. This [war] has changed the outlook. Will we go back to where it was? “You would think it would take


a while to recover, but price does count. There is a question whether airlines and governments step in to make flights competitive on price.” Johnston said the crisis had


“not been easy” for workers in the region, most of them migrants, saying: “We’ve had 20,000 seafarers stuck on the edge of a war zone. Think of the mental health issues


alone. We’ve been working with the Gulf states to repatriate people, but it’s a huge challenge.” Emirates reported operating


more than 1,300 flights a week from May, three-quarters of its pre-war schedule, and Qatar Airways said it is “advancing phased restoration of its network”, although the UK Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential travel to the UAE. Visit Qatar chief executive


Abdulaziz Ali Al-Mawlawi promised a “co-ordinated bounce- back plan grounded in the full readiness of our infrastructure” in a message to the trade last week.


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