TUI, Accor, Kuoni and ITB have joined forces to support a project to combat child sex tourism.
The four have joined with GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and The Code to launch a code of conduct for the tourism industry to help it fight the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
"This work cannot be done without involving the tourism sector itself, which is why we are very excited to get these major stakeholders on board for this pilot project," says Andreas Astrup, general manager of The Code.
The code of conduct is based on tools already being tested in Thailand.
Within this voluntary code, members of the tourism industry worldwide commit to implement the following six criteria:
– establish an ethical policy
– train personnel
– introduce a code-related clause in contracts with suppliers
– provide information to travellers
– provide information to key persons at the destination
– to report annually to The Code on the initiatives undertaken.
The services will include an e-learning system and a new online reporting system.
"It is crucial that the industry gets involved in testing, strengthening and adapting the new tools, which is why we are supporting this new private project," says Matthias Leisinger, head of corporate responsibility at Kuoni.
For more information about The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism (The Code) see www.thecode.org or http://www.facebook.com/TheCodeofConduct or Twitter: @TheCodeOrg.
