Nearly half of global consumers (44%) lack confidence in the travel industry’s ability to protect them from AI-powered fraud including identity theft and account takeover fraud.
This is revealed in the 2025 Online Identity Study by Jumio, a provider of AI-powered identity intelligence anchored in biometric authentication, automation and data-driven insights. The study surveyed 8,001 adults in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, and Mexico between 9 and 24 April 2025.
For the sharing economy (including vacation rentals and other travel-focused gig economy services), confidence falls even further, with 55% in the UK and 50% globally saying they don’t feel adequately protected.
Consumers share sensitive personal data for a simple vacation, often providing government-issued IDs such as passports or drivers’ licences to book flights, check into hotels, and rent cars. This exchange of data makes consumers vulnerable to fraud during the summer travel season, and they recognise the risk.
These sentiments trend alongside broader global distrust in digital spaces, with 69% of respondents saying AI-powered fraud now poses a greater threat to personal security than traditional forms of identity theft.
In response to this distrust, consumers worldwide are slightly more willing to invest more time in identity verification on these platforms than in 2024:
- In 2025, 74% of global consumers said they would willingly spend more time on identity verification when accessing travel and hospitality-related platforms if it improved their security, up from 71% in 2024.
- Global willingness to spend time verifying identity on sharing economy platforms also stayed high at 70% in 2025, only slightly down from 71% in 2024, but with a subtle shift from “a lot more time” to “a little more time”. This suggests increased caution, with a remaining preference for low-friction, visible safeguards.
Consumers’ increasing willingness to spend time on identity verification for travel-related transactions follows a growing trend in traditionally higher-risk industries. For instance, 80% of consumers globally were willing to spend more time on security for digital platforms supporting banking and financial services.
“Whether it’s an evacuation plan or a safe in every hotel room, the travel and hospitality industry know how to build the structures and processes customers need to feel safe,” says Bala Kumar, chief product and technology officer at Jumio.
“Now customers expect the same level of care for their personal data. But travel and hospitality businesses can’t keep layering traditional protections on already complex processes – they need new solutions and technologies to balance convenience with protection, even as AI-powered scams evolve.”
* Read the 2025 Jumio Online Identity Study here.