Child Protection in Tourism, Phase III

The tourism sector is a key growth industry in many developing countries. However, it often lags behind in terms of social responsibility. Increased incidence of child sex tourism poses a significant risk for the marketability and the public image of destinations in many developing countries. While the travel industry is not directly responsible for this phenomenon, tourism businesses have an indirect responsibility to prevent and combat sexual exploitation of children, as its facilities and networks are knowingly or unknowingly used for criminal purposes.

The specific objectives of this project is the etablishment of the Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct as a voluntary sustainability standard and quality control mechanism in tourism, and to strengthen its global organizational structure- to improve the quality of the Code implementation, by strengthening the national, regional and international implementation- to support the implementation of the Code in Switzerland through the local code representative (LCP), ECPAT Switzerland.

Outcome 1: The tourism industry in Myanmar is aware of the Code as a valuable tool to live up to their responsibility in the fight against child sex tourism.

Outcome 2: A ‘Local Code Representative (LCR)’ in Myanmar is identified, estab-lished and trained. The option of setting up a tripartite structure of the Code (private sector, NGO, government) will be assessed in detail.

Outcome 3: The Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism and other relevant authori-ties refer to the The Code when engaging the tourism private sector in their efforts to prevent child sex tourism. Relevant national policies refer to the Code (Tourism Mas-ter Plan).

Phase 3 15.05.2013 - 31.12.2016   (Completed)