INTRODUCTION

Ethical questions related to globalisation, human rights, unfair labour practices and trans-boundary exchanges of capital and workforce create increasingly complex issues for the tourism sustainability agenda. In recent years, the tourism industry has been challenged by media and governments to provide fast, socially responsible responses to emerging problems resulting from the dissolution of borders and workforce migration. Two particularly thorny phenomena, trafficking in human beings and child sex tourism, have called for the development of an initial set of innovative response mechanisms.

SCOPE AND METHODS

This paper approaches the nexus between sustainable tourism, trafficking in human beings and child sex tourism through a review of international good practice on preventing child sex tourism and trafficking. This is intended to be mostly descriptive in nature, within a theoretical framework of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and innovation in tourism. The review includes initiatives developed by the nongovernmental sector, multi-stakeholder partnerships and actions by governments and inter-governmental organisations. Based on reflections concerning the extent of existing programmes, a call is made to morph praxis into innovation-oriented public policies against trafficking and child sex tourism. Some of the factors potentially intervening in such a systemic transformation are identified and suggested for further research.

The paper draws from data collected between 2001 and 2007, a period when the author participated in a project promoting multi-stakeholder action against child sex tourism (the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, www.thecode.org). In this endeavour, and acting as an international secretariat coordinator for the project, the author engaged with tourism companies (tour operators, hotels and travel agencies) and their umbrella organisations (national associations) in 23 countries in Europe (Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK, Romania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Russia), North America (USA and Canada), Latin America (Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Panama), Africa (Kenya, South Africa and Morocco) and Asia (Thailand and Japan). The purpose of the author's interactions with companies and nongovernmental organisations in these countries over the specified period was to support capacity building, training and education against child sex tourism and trafficking.

Data collection supporting the discussion was characterised by a methodological pluralism. As the documentation period was relatively extensive, multiple data sources were used, varying according to the circumstances in different countries, depending on the support provided by other stakeholders, and on a company-by-company basis. The main method employed was participant observation (Clark et al., 1998), consisting of first-hand observation (Bowen, 2002; Hayllar and Veal, 1996) documented through different field work techniques including interview notes, transcripts and minutes of meetings. Expert and key informant interviews, as well as company questionnaires were also critical sources of information. Over the documentation period, important observations were also drawn from numerous consultations with relevant international agencies part of, or affiliated to the UN system, including UNWTO, UNICEF and OSCE, participation in topic specific conferences in Europe, Central and Latin America, and Asia, and periodic presentations at the bi-annual meetings of the UNWTO Task Force to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation in Tourism. These interactions, complemented by industry trainings and field visits carried out in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Romania, Mexico, Panama, etc supported the author's reflections on child sex tourism and trafficking from a more general perspective of innovation on sustainable tourism policy making.

The investigation process had the characteristics of an applied qualitative research (Ritchie and Spencer, 1994). Data were analysed in order to carry out a systematic arrangement of information into meaningful patterns, and to identify critical common characteristics for the empirical innovation models presented. Analysis consisted into a dissection of the whole body of accumulated information into component parts, for gaining insights into its innovation potential from a tourism policy-making perspective. Data analysis conduced to further inductive reasoning, with the objective of stimulating theoretical developments that would build upon the empirical innovation models described. Data analysis has been performed in order to connect the theoretical realm, presented in the first section of the paper, with the empirical realm, subsequently presented.

The paper is organised as follows: first, the general concepts of sustainability, CSR and innovation in tourism are introduced, followed by a description of the context of child sex tourism and trafficking. Secondly, the author presents several empirical models developed by different stakeholders, in the attempt to prevent child sex tourism and trafficking. Finally, a discussion reflecting on the current status of innovations in this field is carried out, closing with recommendations on how existing empirical action models can be better translated from the business practice into socially innovative tourism policies.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM, CSR AND INNOVATION

The concept of sustainable development was introduced in 1987 by the World Conference on Environment and Development (known as the 'Brundtland Commission', whose report defined sustainable development as development meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs; (WCED, 1987). Tourism was not specifically addressed either by the Brundtland report or by the 'Agenda 21', the outcome action programme that emerged from the 'Earth Summit' held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (UNCED, 2000). Only in 1997 did the travel and tourism sector issue its first programmatic affirmation to the sustainable development principles in the document Agenda 21 for the Travel and Tourism Industry, jointly elaborated by the World Tourism Organization, the World Travel and Tourism Council and the Earth Council (WTTC, WTO and Earth Council, 1997). Some of the reasons for the difficulties on sustainability research in tourism refer to the multidisciplinary nature of the sector (WTO, 2001) and a general conceptual 'fuzziness' of the area. For a long period, the sustainable tourism investigations have been focusing on identifying and documenting social, ecological, cultural and economic impacts of tourism (Cooper et al., 1998; Fennell, 1999; Mason, 2003; Ryan, 2003; Swarbrooke, 1999), etc. In recent years, however, concerns related to tourism development expanded beyond the issue of impacts, and are increasingly explored in the context of globalisation (Bianchi, 2007; Dodds and Joppe, 2005). Implementation of neo-liberal development policies also raised the issue of responsibility of the business sector for promoting sustainable development, leading to the emergence of CSR and business ethics as new business studies areas.

In its generic use, the term CSR is understood as the explicit adoption and implementation of environmentally conscious, ethical and socially responsible standards of conduct in and by the business, on a voluntary basis and going beyond the minimum legal requirements. In recent years, the concept has been institutionalised politically in the international context both by the European Union and by the UN. Under the definition of the European Commission (2001), CSR is 'a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis' (European Commission, 2001: 8). The Commission further emphasises four relevant aspects: first, that CSR covers both social and environmental issues, in spite of the English term CSR; secondly, that CSR is not or should not be separate from business strategy and operations; thirdly, that CSR is voluntary; and fourthly, that interaction with internal and external stakeholders is an important aspect of CSR. The United Nations is also playing an important role in promoting the CSR agenda through the Global Compact (UN Global Compact, 2007), a framework for businesses to align their operations and strategies within ten universally accepted principles of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

Tourism adoption of CSR practices is still in its infancy. Of all the industrial sectors that the World Bank Group CSR Practice reviewed in 2003 (World Bank and International Finance Corporation, 2003), tourism was the 'least developed' in terms of codes of conduct and CSR initiatives. With regards to the content of existing initiatives, Epler-Wood and Leray (2005) point out that existing voluntary schemes, guidelines and codes of conduct have predominantly addressed questions of environmental management, with little or no focus on issues of human rights and labour. In his Tourism Ethics, Fennell (2006) sees the research concentration on tourism environmental impacts as excessive and limiting for the field, noting the 'absence of an underlying ethical basis for critical thought in tourism' (Fennell, 2006: xiii). Fennell argues that it may be the recognition of the 'immense void in ethics' (ibid.) that determined tourism being pulled behind other disciplines that progressed both conceptually and theoretically. Fennel further suggests that tourism ethics 'has the potential to emerge as the next main research platform' (2006: 358) in this field.

Ethics and CSR are also promising operating frameworks for the private sector. Among the first industry publications specifically addressing CSR was a World Travel and Tourism Council report from 2002, which reviews selected examples of social leadership by top companies of the sector (WTTC, 2002). In WTTC's view, the business case for CSR by tourism companies results from: favouring of responsible companies by governments and communities prioritising sustainability; building brand value and the market share of socially conscious travellers; attracting socially conscious investors; enhancing businesses' ability for recruitment of highly skilled workforce; improved risk assessment and response capacity.

Despite the reasons given by the industry, a study by Dodds and Joppe (2005) found that there is little overt demand for sustainable tourism, and both the consumer and the industry are still overwhelmingly driven by price. The same was noted when the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) organised an 'Innovation and Growth in Tourism' conference in 2003. In this context, private sector representatives noted that 'price competition and its consequences of productivity improvement, and not product innovation, has occupied the minds of senior managers in this [ tourism] sector over the past ten years' (Brackenbury, 2003: 8). Weiermair (2005) also points out that innovation is undertaken in the tourism value chain only in the areas where there is sufficiently high information dividend paying for the added cost and risk.

Price-driven improvements have been well studied in other industries. The discourse in the field of industrial innovation, however, rarely addresses the service sectors and is particularly silent in what concerns tourism. The research focusing on tourism innovation is limited (Decelle, 2003; Nordin, 2003), and as a field still sparse and fragmented. Hjalager (2002) builds on the model of Abernathy and Clark (1985), who describe the tourism innovation process in terms of: production, process, management, logistics and institutional improvements (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Abernathy and Clark (1985) Innovation types
Source: Hjalager (2002: 467)

Full figure and legend (54K)

In further work, Hjalager (1996, 1997, 2006) connects the low occurrence of innovation with deficiencies of knowledge transfer, suggesting that in tourism, the central elements of innovativeness are generally human resources, competence, knowledge and access to networks.

While most traditional views of innovation in tourism, starting with Schumpeter's work (1934), concern technical and resource exploitation processes, researchers increasingly point to the need of a behavioural interpretation of innovation (Sundbo et al., 2003) incorporating the social capital within the scope of innovations. In this direction, Macbeth et al. (2004) use the concept of social, political and cultural capital, arguing that The use of the concepts of SPCC in regional tourism development needs to have a broader agenda than pointing the finger at communities and telling them to take responsibility. There is also a need for corporations and government to accept the need to contribute to building social capital, and to do so equitably across gender, age, ethnicity and socio-economic level. [ ...] if tourism development is to be sustainable, it must ensure its development efforts accept corporate civic responsibility. (Macbeth et al., 2004: 507)

These comments point to a link between CSR and innovation, calling for tourism managers to see themselves and also to act as social entrepreneurs. On a more general basis, it appears that there is a need for innovation to be understood in a broader sense, as having a relationship with CSR in supporting the fulfilment of the 'social contract' of tourism (Martin and Osberg, 2007).

TRAFFICKING AND CHILD SEX TOURISM

Easily negotiated international borders and increased demand for cheap labour sustain a global slave industry worth approximately $9bn in annual profits, for which 600,000–800,000 immigrants are trafficked across international borders every year (Glover, 2006). The main premise of human trafficking is that increased poverty leads hopeless immigrants to seek opportunities beyond the borders of their homelands (Coonan and Thompson, 2005).

Trafficking and child sex tourism are among what Payne and Dimanche (1996) consider the myriad of issues and problems in the tourism industry tied to ethics, or lack of thereof. While sex tourism is better known in the tourism academic research circles, trafficking has been only recently associated to tourism. Child Sex Tourism (CST) is a narrow topic within the wider issue of sex tourism, which was developed as a legitimate area of tourism studies from the 1970s (Ryan and Hall, 2001). Tourism researchers have reported extensively on sex tourism over the last two decades, significant exploratory work being carried out by Carter and Clift (2000), Garrick (2005), Hall (1996), Jeffreys (1999), O'Connell Davidson (2000), Oppermann (1999), Rao (1999), Ryan and Hall (2001), Seabrook (2000), Truong (1990), Ryan and Kinder (1996), and others. Important field research was carried out in the 1990s in Thailand, Goa, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, South Africa, Cuba, and Costa Rica, by O'Connell Davidson and Sanchez Taylor (1995). Their reports were commissioned by ECPAT International and used in preparation for the 1996 1st World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (reports available from ECPAT International (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) website www.ecpat.net). Moving beyond merely observing CST as a component of tourism and sexuality, recent works progressed toward more sophisticated aspects of CST, such as those including commonalities with sex tourism in general (O'Connell Davidson, 2004), tourists' rationalisations (Garrick, 2005), sex tourism and citizenship (Cabezas, 2004).

CST is distinguished from the wider topic of sex tourism studies by its classification as a national or international crime. As adult prostitution is legal in some countries, adult sex tourism, while controversial, is not a crime under certain national jurisdictions. Tourism, however, for the purpose of sexual relation with a minor is a crime and a clear and unambiguous violation of human rights (UNWTO, 2004) under the international legislation. A tourist who engages in sex with a minor commits a violation of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, and of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Children's fundamental right to be protected against commercial sexual exploitation is addressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), whose Article 34 recognises the cross-border aspects that are typical of the phenomenon.

More recently, new information increasingly links CST with trafficking in human beings, a phenomenon considered by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to be the 21st century form of the old worldwide slave trade (UNODC, 2006). UNODC defines trafficking in the context of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and of two of its supplementing protocols: the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, both adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000. Trafficking is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or tougher forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, or deception, or the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation includes, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. (UNODC, 2006: 7)

The links between trafficking and child sex tourism are also noted by the US Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office), which issues an annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report). The Protection Project at John Hopkins University (Protection Project, 2007) reviewed the 2006 edition of the TIP report, finding that 29 countries were referenced as either origin or destination countries. These references point out the fact that the TIP Office lists other governments' efforts to combat CST among the measures to eliminate trafficking in persons. The aspects of 'transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons' in the trafficking definition make it possible for tourism businesses to be used, voluntarily or involuntarily, in relation to the trafficking phenomenon. In what concerns adult victims, there is often confusion between trafficking and smuggling of migrants. The differentiating aspects concern the nature of consent (coercive, deceptive or abusive in the case of trafficking), and the aspect of continuous exploitation and coercion for illegal profits which characterise trafficking. Also, unlike smuggling, which is always transnational, trafficking can be both internal and trans-boundary (UNODC, 2007).

In regard to minor victims of CST and trafficking, the legal determination is clear. According to the existing international legal framework, children under 18 cannot give valid consent, and any recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of children for the purpose of exploitation is a form of trafficking regardless of the means used (UNODC, 2007). A common misconception is that sex tourists are primarily paedophiles. According to Glover (2006), however, the majority of perpetrators are primarily prostitute users in general. UNICEF quotes surveys indicating that 30–35 per cent of all sex workers in the Mekong sub-region of south-east Asia are between 12 and 17 years of age (UNICEF, 2007a), 2 million children are believed to be exploited through prostitution and pornography, and 1.2 million children are trafficked every year (UNICEF, 2007b). While child sex tourism is booming worldwide, according to Glover (2006) Asia is at the centre of child prostitution, with 60,000 child prostitutes in the Philippines, 400,000 in India, 800,000 in Thailand. Most of them are girls under the age of 16, or boys in the case of Sri Lanka's 20,000 child prostitutes. Child prostitution and sex tourism, however, cannot be blamed on tourists alone, as they seem to be thriving in places where a culture of prostitution is connected to the local customs or historical circumstances. In Sachs (1994), Hnin Hnin Pyne estimates that 75 per cent of Thai men have had sex with a prostitute. With such a demand, children are sought in the most impoverished areas to be brought to developed entertainment destinations, often tourism destinations, to serve the red light districts.

MODELS OF TOURISM INNOVATIONS PREVENTING TRAFFICKING AND SEX TOURISM

The existing body of knowledge on child sex tourism and trafficking in the context of sustainability and CSR is thin. Furthermore, the theoretical contextualisation on CST and trafficking phenomena turns obsolete quickly, due to the volatile dynamics of these phenomena and the rapid changes of the tourism industry. Yet, some empirical developments have been recently taking place. Models of responsible practice to prevent and counteract trafficking and sex tourism have emerged in the last decade from a variety of tourism stakeholders, including nongovernmental organisations, international governmental organisations, industry and national tourism authorities. They come to complement national laws, including extra-territorial legislation created by many governments to prevent trafficking and sex tourism. The general aims of tourism industry innovations were, first, to create awareness within the industry regarding its potential preventative role, and, secondly, to equip tourism businesses with the tools to exercise it. Other measures looked into creating alternative opportunities for development for the children at risk, facilitating public awareness, and creating incentives to report sex tourism and trafficking. Several such examples are briefly described in this section, clustered according to the type of stakeholders driving them.

Models of innovation by nongovernmental organisations

The youth career initiative programme of the international business leaders' foundation

The youth career initiative (YCI) is a programme run by the London-based international business leaders' foundation (IBLF) through their International Tourism Partnership , seeking to increase youth employability in the hotel sector, and by doing so helping to end the cycle of poverty and social exclusion (IBLF, 2007). The programme engages international hotels (Marriott, Sheraton, Pan Pacific, Sol Melía, Starwood, Orient Express, Intercontinental, etc) to provide five to six months education on the hotel premises for high-school graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds. It includes both theory and practical instruction by hotel staff, in finance, IT, interpersonal skills and personal health and wellbeing. Upon completing the programme, the participants are helped to make further career and education choices. Over 1,300 youth have graduated the programme since its inception in 1995 and with the initial support of UNICEF and the Pan Pacific Hotel in Bangkok. Currently YCI runs in eight countries: Brazil, Ethiopia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Romania and Poland (IBLF, 2007). Although the content of the YCI programme is not directly targeting CST or trafficking, it provides a useful example of innovative engagement by the hospitality industry with youth at risk in developing countries. Through the vocational and career skills it instils, YCI is likely to provide an opportunity for youth to start onto a path of healthy development.

'Travel with care' and 'child wise tourism' programmes of child wise™ Australia

The nongovernmental organisation ChildWise is focusing on work in destinations where Australians travel. ChildWise is the Australian representative of the ECPAT International, a network of organisations and individuals working to eliminate the commercial sexual exploitation of children. ECPAT started in 1996 in Thailand, is currently represented in another 62 countries, and has been one of the first organisations to begin campaigning against child prostitution in Asian tourism (ECPAT International, 2007). The approach of ChildWise to protect children builds on the observation that CST involving Australians tends to occur outside the work of the mainstream tourism industry (Hecht, 2001). Consequently, mainstream tourism industry codes of conduct would probably have a limited effect in deterring Australian child sex tourists. Developed since 1999, 'ChildWise Tourism' is a training and network development programme running throughout the ASEAN region, including training modules and education materials for travel and tourism students, educators and the tourism industry. The programme builds skills for the tourism staff so they become capable of identifying and responding to situations where children may be at risk of sexual exploitation. The programme conducts community-based training sessions in the seven ASEAN countries: Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Lao PDR, Vietnam and Myanmar (ChildWise, 2007). Another ChildWise programme, 'Travel with Care', is an intensive travel and tourism industry education module, aimed at increasing awareness of the Australia Child Sex Tourism law. Since December 2003, an awareness raising campaign has been launched with the slogan 'Don't let child abuse travel!' involving distribution of posters, postcards, as well as TV and radio messages.

World vision 'child sex tourism prevention project' and campaign targeting US travellers

World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organisation operating in nearly 100 countries, developed since 2004 through its US branch is a campaign aimed at deterring foreign sex tourists and raising awareness on the extra-territorial legislation against CST. The World Vision campaign slogan 'Abuse a child in this country, go to jail in yours' was used in Cambodia, Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico and Brazil, targeting mainly American tourists. The campaign also included deterrent messages posted in the US airports, airline in-flight videos, billboards and street signs overseas (World Vision, 2007). ECPAT-USA Inc., a group working since 1996 against CST in the US, estimates that American citizens account for 25 per cent of child sex tourists worldwide.

Multi-stakeholder models of innovation

The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism (the Code) is an industry-driven multi-stakeholder initiative that seeks to increase protection of children from sex tourism. The companies — tour operators and their umbrella organisations, hotels, travel agents, airlines, etc — that endorse the Code, commit themselves to implement six measures. These are elaborating corporate policies against CST; training company staff on how to prevent CST; providing information to the travellers in relation to CST; inserting clauses in contracts with suppliers jointly repudiating CST; working together with 'key persons' in destinations to prevent CST; and finally, reporting annually on the implementation of these measures.

The Code (www.thecode.org) was initiated in 1998 by ECPAT Sweden (member of the ECPAT network) in cooperation with Scandinavian tour operators and the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Funding was provided by the European Commission for the Code's implementation in six European countries, between 2000 and 2004: Austria, Germany, Sweden, UK, the Netherlands and Italy. Following the launch of the Code in North America in April 2004, UNICEF became a supporting partner and a co-funding body of the Code organisation. Signed by over 600 tour operators, hotels, travel agents and their associations, tourism workers' unions from 23 countries in Europe, Asia, North America, Central and Latin America (Tepelus, 2004), the Code is internationally recognised by UNICEF and the UNWTO as one of the most advanced private sector tools for the prevention and combating of CST. The Code process, however, has a number of shortcomings. Criticisms concern the lack of enforcement mechanisms once a company signs up, and insufficient monitoring of the implementation in destinations. As the structure of the Code is that of a multi-stakeholder process based on support from national partners (ECPAT groups, governments, UNICEF offices, etc), the rigorousness of implementation varies greatly from country to country. Furthermore, since the Code marketing and promotion proceeded in parallel with attempts to strengthen its own internal organisation, the Code as an industry-driven, self-sustained organisation, independent of the ECPAT network, is still a work in progress.

Innovation through government-led campaigns: Brazil

The Government of Brazil was among the first governments taking a clear and official stand against the phenomenon of CST, launching since 1997 a 'no child sex tourism' campaign. Brazil was the first country to design a logo for the tourism campaign against exploitation of children, logo adopted later by the UNWTO for the global campaign. National awareness started in Brazil since 2001 with the support of EMBRATUR and of the federation of hotels and conventions. More recently, under the presidency of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva starting in 2002, a Ministry of Tourism was created and a 'Sustainable Tourism and Childhood Thematic Chamber' was institutionalised within the structure of the National Tourism Chamber. The principal objectives of the 'Sustainable Tourism and Childhood' programme are to assist the creation of public policies on the protection of children in relation to tourism, and to promote good practices of the private sector, including the introduction of codes of conduct. The Brazil Ministry of Tourism also spearheaded a regional South American 'Sustainable Tourism and Childhood' programme, by convening annually between 2004 and 2007 a World Tourism Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development. In the context of the Forum, national tourism authorities and tourism ministries from all South American countries came together and issued the 1st Declaration against CST on 26th October, 2005 in Rio de Janeiro. The declaration was followed by plans for a joint South American campaign against CST designed to be running in 12 countries starting in 2007. In its efforts to protect children and teenagers from sexual exploitation in tourism, the Brazilian Federal Government worked together with nongovernmental partners including Save the Children Sweden, World Childhood Foundation Brazil and others (F. Gorenstein, personal communication, 18th June, 2007).

Engagement of inter-governmental organisations: UNWTO, UNICEF, OSCE, ILO, etc

Several inter-governmental organisations facilitated tourism innovation against trafficking and CST, mostly by acting as convening bodies for international meetings and by supporting dialogue and information exchange platforms.

UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO/OMT)

UNWTO has been concerned on the issue of protection of children from sex tourism, providing inputs in the proceedings of the 1st and 2nd Congresses against Commercial Exploitation of Children held in Stockholm in 1996, and in Yokohama in 2001. Following the Stockholm Congress 'Declaration and Agenda for Action' (Declaration and Agenda for Action, 2007), UNWTO established in 1997 a Task Force to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation in Tourism, a global multi-stakeholder action platform aiming to prevent, uncover, isolate and eradicate the sexual exploitation of children in tourism (UNWTO, 2007a). The Task Force meets bi-annually at the largest international tourism fairs, ITB held in March in Berlin and WTM held in November in London. The framework for the UNWTO position on CST is provided by the Article 2, point 3 of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism (GCTE), which reads: The exploitation of human beings in any form, particularly sexual, especially when applied to children, conflicts with the fundamental aims of tourism and is the negation of tourism; as such, in accordance with international law, it should be energetically combated with the cooperation of all the States concerned and penalized without concession by the national legislation of both the countries visited and the countries of the perpetrators of these acts, even when they are carried out abroad (UNWTO, 2007b, Art. 2, point 3).

The GCTE is a set of ten principles aiming to guide stakeholders in tourism development, and was recognised by the UN General Assembly in 2001 through the resolution A/RES/56/212 (http://www.unwto.org/code_ethics/eng/resolutions.htm). While the GCTE is not a legally binding document, the UNWTO drafted policies and guidelines governing a voluntary implementation mechanism, whereby a World Committee on Tourism Ethics (WCTE) may intervene in the settlement of disputes. Another important contribution of UNWTO is the incorporation of sustainability indicators within the tourism sustainability framework, to better quantify and monitor the increasing CST phenomenon (UNWTO, 2004).

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

UNICEF is the UN agency advocating for the protection of children's rights in relation to the provisions and principles of the CRC. The CST and child trafficking issues fall under the 'child protection' focus area of UNICEF's activity. Upon hosting the launch of the tourism industry Code of Conduct in North America in April 2004, UNICEF became a supporting agency of the Code in a tripartite partnership of ECPAT, UNICEF, UNWTO (UNICEF, 2004). In addition to awareness campaigns against CST in various countries including Dominican Republic (2001), Spain (2003), Sri Lanka (2006), Kenya (2006), Gambia (2004), UNICEF has also been actively advocating for the revision of penal codes in countries in Central America and the Caribbean area. The UNICEF Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office organised in 2005 and 2007 training and education courses for officials from national tourism administrations and ministries of tourism from the area.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) forms the largest regional security organisation in the world, with 56 participating states from Europe, Central Asia and North America, acting for early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. In 2003, the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OSCE-OCEEA) received a mandate to mobilise and strengthen the private sector's efforts to combat trafficking in human beings by raising awareness and by identifying and disseminating best practices, such as self-regulation, policy guidelines and codes of conduct (OSCE, 2007a). The OSCE-OCEEA considers that hospitality and tourism, as one of the world's fastest growing sectors, can play an instrumental role in raising the awareness of tourists and business travellers of trafficking, and can help create an environment that does not accept trafficking in human beings and, in particular, the sexual exploitation of minors. OSCE used voluntary instruments such as the Code as 'valuable preventive and awareness raising tools' (OSCE, 2007b) and has supported the extension of the Code to tourism companies operating in south-eastern Europe. OSCE provided as well institutional support for gaining the commitment of the industry and of governments in the prevention and combat of trafficking in human beings and child sex tourism. These measures, as well as training and educational efforts have been undertaken with the support of other local partners since 2004 in Bulgaria, Romania, and as of 2005 also in Albania and Montenegro.

Other UN agencies: International Labour Organization, UN Office on Drugs and Crimes, International Organization on Migration

Other UN agencies that carried out research to uncover the context of CST include the International Labour Organization(ILO), the UN Office of Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and the International Organization on Migration (IOM). ILO explored CST in the context of eliminating one of the worst forms of child labour specified under the ILO Convention No. 182 (Black, 1995; Lean, 1998), through its International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). UNODC and IOM have also elaborated guidelines and training materials on the prevention and combat of trafficking in human beings. Although their work is not directly relevant to tourism, it is very informative in the context of smuggling migrants, trafficking and illegal labour, all topics recently connected to tourism (Stipanuk, 2006).

DISCUSSION

The number of child victims of trafficking and CST calls for the mobilisation of tourism stakeholders — academia, private sector and policy-making bodies — to explore these issues more fully. Continuing the innovation on preventive practices is not an easy task, given the complexity of the phenomena and the still predominant perception that tourism is only marginally concerned with these occurrences. Furthermore, the debate is burdened by the confusion, persistent even in academic circles, with other related themes, including smuggling, illegal immigration, illegal labour, adult prostitution, etc. A 'first-generation' of innovations on the prevention of child sex tourism and trafficking, however, emerged in the early 2000s. They were, and some still are, in the process of being pilot tested in various mass tourism destinations. While making an elaborate analysis of the advantages, disadvantages, similarities, differences or interrelationships of each of the models was not the main focus of the paper, the initiatives presented share several key elements relevant from an innovation perspective. What existing models against trafficking and CST seem to have in common irrespective of their location, and who created them, are elements of awareness raising, education and the need for professional training of staff.

A second feature of the examples presented concerns their origin, most of which result from lobbying efforts by civil rights activists and by nongovernmental organisations. The main driver of innovation creation was a reaction, mostly by media and NGOs, but also by inter-governmental bodies, to flagrant and visible violations of children's rights in tourism destinations. The media reports have led to significant damage to the reputation of several destinations whose names remained, for the general public, associated with CST and trafficking. Owing to these negative media reports, the industry was initially forced into a defensive position that mandated immediate reaction. Yet, this external pressure makes it difficult to facilitate innovation beyond the current status quo. Instead, given the sensitive nature of the topic for mainstream tourists, the publicity has arguably not encouraged the private sector to take proactive steps.

Current CST and trafficking initiatives, represent innovations of a behavioural nature, and mostly of a voluntary character (guidelines, training kits, codes of conduct, etc). All these models are still in their initial stages of development. They evolved on an ad hoc basis and as continuous trial and error processes. In many circumstances innovation emerged as a result of challenges encountered, rather than being induced by favouring factors. Such challenges included reluctance of governments to acknowledge the existence of the problems, lack or insufficient numbers of skilled trainers, low capacity of local law enforcement, corruption and weak legal systems in tourism destinations particularly in developing countries.

With all their gaps, limitations and even inconsistencies however, innovations so far developed contain valuable knowledge to be applied towards a 'second generation' of prevention programmes. These should ideally evolve beyond voluntary, behavioural measures, and shift in the direction of policies and incentives for responsible behaviour. Based on reviewing the content and extent of currently available innovation models, it is argued here that existing innovation against CST and trafficking needs to increasingly morph towards policy making.

From a destination perspective, policies deterring any type of social risk, especially those that potentially tarnish the reputation of destinations, are very desirable. They support destinations to be more competitive in the national and international marketplaces, and intervene to extend the destination's lifecycle. This is also supported by Keller (2003), who notes that, 'the future of traditional destinations will depend on a more innovation-oriented tourism policy' (Keller, 2003: 5). The need for policy makers not to replace, but to complement CSR measures is also acknowledged by politicians. The head of the Tourism Policy Division of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour, Helmut Krüger, stated, 'in Germany, tourism policy does not intervene in areas where solutions could be found by the industry itself. The industry has the know-how and the necessary momentum needed for innovation,' however, 'the federal government must react to the big challenges and trends of our time' (Krüger, 2004: 1).

Hjalager's observations on the role of policy instruments on environmental innovation (Hjalager, 1996) may also shed some light on the role of policies for tourism social innovations. A reinterpretation of Hjalager's model on the influence of policy instruments on social innovation is presented in Table 1. Furthermore, Figure 2 presents how the characteristics of existing innovation processes may be optimised by consistent and innovation-oriented policies against CST and trafficking, with a feedback loop from the empirical experiences back to the policy process.

Figure 2.

Tourism innovation on preventing trafficking and CST

Full figure and legend (62K)

Table 1 - Reinterpretation of Hjalager (1996), on the influence of policy instruments on social innovation.

Full table

A number of contextual factors may intervene in the morphing from ad hoc, pressure-driven innovation, towards innovation-oriented tourism policies. For this to happen, further academic research on tourism CSR needs to incorporate CST and trafficking in the ethical framework for tourism. Academic study of the CST phenomenon focused mostly on definitional aspects, sexuality interferences and representations in rapport to tourism. The academia feedback to the existing actions against CST and trafficking has been extremely limited, although O'Connell (2004) initiates this discussion. There is still insufficient awareness in the tourism academic environment to the global dimensions of CST and trafficking. Emerging CSR research should include these topics in relation to social issues in tourism destinations and along with environmental concerns.

Linkages from the research published in law, social sciences and criminology need to be drawn and incorporated in the research on social impacts and globalisation in tourism. As CST and trafficking have been mostly studied in social sciences, legal and law enforcement circles (Cabezas, 2004; Glover, 2006; O'Connell, 2004), the body of work currently available may be insufficiently scrutinised by the tourism researchers. Incipient research (Stipanuk, 2006) points to possible implications of illegal labour in US tourism, and calls for the further development of solutions to social impacts of tourism.

Governments and authorities need to create incentives and acknowledge the leaders of socially responsible tourism. Andrews (2004) reported that in 1996, over 25 companies in the US were known to offer <sex tour> package deals to either south-west Asia or other developing countries. While the public promotion of sex tourism has largely stopped in recent years, mostly thanks to the advances in law enforcement, a follow-up step needs to be taken in acknowledging and creating incentives for tourism companies to actively engage in the prevention of CST and trafficking.

Coordination between the relevant UN bodies, tourism policy makers and the civil society has to be improved. As the phenomena of CST and trafficking are closely related to illegal migration, smuggling, international crime and security, there is a strong need for improved interaction and more effective coordination between UN agencies that have the resources to address these issues at a global scale. Some of the concerned agencies include UNWTO, UNICEF, OSCE, ILO, IOM, Interpol, etc. A particularly important role remains for the UNWTO Task Force for the Protection of Children, and the UNWTO WCTE, which are called to support and facilitate exchange of information and to identify emerging international trends. As agendas of different organisations focus on different aspects, the discourse on CST and trafficking risks to become highly politicised, or vulnerable to pressures from the private sector. In order to bring the debate forward, focusing on elements of commonality would prevent territoriality and competition among the agencies concerned.

CONCLUSION

More than other service sectors, tourism has always had a complex relationship with the rest of society. This relationship embraces not only its direct stakeholders (shareholders, clients, regulators, employees), but also an increasingly broad range of actors throughout society, particularly the communities where it operates, the media, the nonprofit sector, as well as environmental and human rights activists. Tourism experiences of recent years (SARS, mad-cow disease, the hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the global war on terror, terrorist incidents at tourist sites, etc) showed that innovation in tourism is becoming more and more a question of dealing with uncertainties and risk.

This paper presented the context of two contemporary phenomena, CST and trafficking, and several examples of innovative practices to prevent them. The gap in tourism research on addressing these problems is significant. The main argument of the paper is that a morphing of empirical innovation towards policy making is called for. Embarking on a more coherent policy-making path to incorporate the CST and trafficking topics into the sustainable tourism agenda can draw from the lessons of a 'first generation' of innovations tested in recent years. A set of factors including leadership from the tourism academia and concerned UN agencies, and additional research on ethics in tourism, may support a transition towards policy making and for a 'second generation' of social innovations in tourism.

By virtue of its global scale and reach, tourism has the potential to become an agent for profound social change. Innovation-oriented tourism policy making is called for in order for this social change to be beneficial. As the realities of a global and globalising tourism industry are ever changing, the social responsibility debate in tourism has to advance if the sector is to realise its potential in contributing to sustainable development.

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Acknowledgements

I thank the Foundation for the Promotion of Expertise in Tourism (Stiftelsen för kunskapsfrämjande inom turism) at the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Nutek) for co-funding this research. I thank the anonymous reviewers for the insightful feedbacks.