Summer Travel Habits Analyzed

Despite nearly half of consumers having online fraud or safety concerns with booking travel online, the study found that half of travelers planning vacations this summer still plan to book online. The study also found that more than half of travelers who book online are likely to do so through a discount marketplace. When broken down by age, younger generations, such as millennials, are far more likely to book flights and hotels online through a discounted marketplace than baby boomers.

When broken down by age, younger generations, such as millennials, are far more likely to book flights and hotels online through a discounted marketplace than baby boomers.

In terms of choosing an airline or hotel, nearly percent of travelers are more likely to book with a given brand based on the best price.

With so many tech tools at their disposal, the modern traveler has become so budget savvy that they choose to seek out the cheapest deals, which ultimately may lead them to inadvertently click on something fraudulent, resulting in a multitude of online risks,” said Daniel Assouline, CEO at Lavasoft. “These risks can include identity or credit card theft, exposed personal information and computer malfunction. Being so focused on getting the most bang for their buck, travelers might turn a blind eye to their online safety. We hope that this study can remind consumers to prioritize online safety while booking summer travel.

Online Risks by the Numbers

According to the survey, one in four consumers has clicked on a search result that has taken them to a fake or suspicious website. Travelers are likely taking these risks because they are on the hunt for the most affordable vacation prices available. In their searches, nearly one in five respondents have clicked on a suspicious link offering a free or discounted trip, and of those, almost 25 percent have received a fake confirmation email or receipt.

Despite various risks, travelers still don’t have the best safety habits when it comes to Internet usage. In fact, almost one in five respondents uses the same password across multiple travel websites. Survey findings indicate a direct correlation between those who use the same password and those who do not regularly update their security software – putting those users’ payment and personal information at an even higher risk. Additionally, more than 10 percent of consumers do not have an antivirus system installed on their computers. Among the millennial age group, this figure jumps to nearly 20 percent.

Booking travel online is a summer ritual for many consumers and they need to protect themselves from any risks that result from increased online activity. Multi-layered security and antivirus software is the best way to surf the Web safely and enables consumers to book their summer travel plans without the risk of a virus.

Consumers can use security software such as Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware Web Companion, which is compatible with all existing antivirus programs and works with the top browsers to provide complete anti-spyware, phishing and browser hijacking protection. Ad-Aware Web Companion protects against summer travel risks and more by providing four layers of defense:

• Detects and removes known search hijacker programs.
• Locks unwanted search hijacker programs from being installed.
• Traps changes made to your current search engine and prompts you for confirmation prior to the changes being made.
• Extracts the user's preferred search engine setting from the browser and secures it.

With the breadth of high-level security breaches and hacks that we’ve seen in the past year, it’s important for consumers to actively use antivirus programs that come equipped with a multi-layered approach,” said Assouline. “Most antivirus companies don’t have the time to detect, catalog and neutralize attacks as they come in, leaving large gaps in getting information to the consumer. Web Companion’s multi-layered approach helps remove this long detection period by stopping fraudsters in their tracks.

To keep all consumers – including the travelers who participated in this survey – protected online, Lavasoft recently released an update to Ad-Aware Web Companion. While it cannot change the online behavior that consumers engage in, it can help prevent their online activity from being compromised by cybercriminals.

For more information about Lavasoft and its suite of software tools designed to keep consumers safe online in the summer travel season and any season, visit Lavasoft’s blog.

About Lavasoft

Lavasoft is the maker of Ad-Aware, the world’s No. 1 free antivirus software. Founded in 1999, Lavasoft is the original anti-malware company, creating award-winning, free security and privacy software. Born of the belief that online security should be available to everyone, Lavasoft offers millions of users maximum protection for their computers and online identities. With nearly 500 million downloads, its flagship product Ad-Aware has blocked and removed billions of threats, saving consumers from all forms of attack and malware – including viruses, spyware, adware, phishing and drive-by downloads. Lavasoft is a global company with operations in North America and Europe. For more information, visit http://www.lavasoft.com.