Cyber attacks on hospitality sector: stock market reaction

Purpose – The paper aims to analyze the impact of cyber attacks on stock returns of companies operating in the hospitality sector. The fast development of information and communication technologies has been posited as both an opportunity and a challenge to the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals. Digital technologies are significant tools for sustainable development, but if they are not addressed appropriately, they can potentially hinder the progress toward sustainability. Among negative impacts, it is necessary to consider cyber risk, a major concern today, in particular for industries which work with sensitive data, such as tourism businesses. Hospitality businesses have to adequately manage cyber insecurity and digital privacy issues, to prevent losses and contribute to socioeconomic sustainable growth. Design/methodology/approach – Using event-study methodology, the paper provides empirical evidence on the effect of announcements of 170 information security breaches on the market value of firms operating in the hospitality sector in the past five years. Findings – The study focuses on identifying potential threats of cyber attacks for the economic value of listed companies. The authors find that negative market returns occur following announcements of cyber attacks suffered by hospitality companies. Adequate investments in technology for cyber security and staff training are relevant in the hospitality sector to reduce cyber risk. Originality/value – The paper contributes to identifying potential threats of cyber attacks for the economic value of listed companies operating in the hospitality sector. The analysis is carried out by collecting an original sample of global cyber attacks from newspaper announcements sourced from the LexisNexis database.