to download the document in PDF format - Child Centre: Expert ...

3. Travel and Tourism Sub-SectorWithin the private sector the travel and tourism sub-sector has clearly taken the leadtowards eliminating CSEC. At the First World Congress, the travel and tourism industrieswere well represented and their delegates introduced several high profile agreements andresolutions. In the years since, many new initiatives have been further developed. Despitethis trend there is still concern among child advocacy groups and law enforcement agenciesthat not enough is being done by this group to monitor and report instances of childabuse.In 2001, the first comprehensive report on the issue of sex tourism was completed by aresearch firm based in France called Groupe Developpement. The report provides an overviewof the state of the global campaign against child-sex tourism. 250 ECPAT Internationalcommissioned the report called Child Sex Tourism Action Survey in response to concerns thatactivities on the issue following the First World Congress demonstrated a lack of progressin the area. Worldwide surveys were conducted on child-sex tourism with the objective ofusing this information to develop a strategy to further promote its elimination. Analyticalstudies were conducted both on the outputs of the tourism industries, identifying “bestpractice models”, and on the implementation of non-government initiatives.A number of tasks are articulated in the report, including, inter alia: development of a toolto quantify the volume of child-sex tourists; design of a methodology to monitor childsextourism arrests and convictions; assembly and circulation of best practices; creation ofsupport or assistance programmes for partners in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbeanworking to end sex tourism in their regions; and establishment of an information andtraining programme in cooperation with the North American tourism industry.The report identifies sectors involved in child-sex tourism and highlights some of thework that remains to be tackled. The report notes that children are procured for sexthrough various means. Implicated industries and individuals include hotel staff, taxidrivers, transport terminals, panderers, brothels and escort agencies, and sidewalk agents.It is further noted that CSEC takes place in many locales, including hotels, guest houses,holiday flats, parents’ homes, brothels and public places; hotels however are the primescene of CSEC, accounting for 93.3 per cent of incidences. 251 The report states that thereis a division between formal and informal sectors in this area, and that further research isneeded to distinguish between the two and to identify the unique areas of each needing tobe addressed.Private Sector Accountability in Combating the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children|63