The Privacy Paradox: An Investigation of Data Privacy in Social Networks within the Cyprus Tourism Industry

Abstract

Data protection has been experiencing serious changes during recent years, with GDPR to play a key role of how businesses are responding to these changes. Consequently, tourism, as an integral part of international business has been highly affected from these developments. The current research has attempted to identify the level of privacy concern and awareness of hotel managers at all levels within the Republic of Cyprus. The researchers have applied quantitative research with one hundred and sixty-one participants. This paper sheds light on important issues such as managers’ awareness and concerns whilst operating in the tourism industry, given the industry’s impact on international business. The research has identified a high level of awareness and concern, as well as the knowledge of the legal impact that such legal frameworks may have on business operations. Hotel managers are highly sensitive whilst applying Social Media Marketing (SMM) in order to avoid both legal and ethical implications. Conversely, research has identified limited knowledge of the actual legal framework as only 47.5% are aware of GDPR and only 30% of the respondents believe that existing privacy law provide reasonable protection. The research provides a set of conclusions and practical recommendations in order to mitigate the lack of such knowledge which is in contrast to the participants’ overall perception over their legal, awareness, concern, and application during, especially during SMM. This privacy paradox requires deeper analysis as there is lack of research regarding the under-examination matters within Cyprus’ market, and more specifically, within the tourism and hotel sectors. The data was imported into and analysed by Microsoft PowerBI.

Keywords: Privacy paradox, international business, tourism, GDPR, data protection