16 August 2017
Tourism Month is one of the ways in which the government alongside various stakeholders is able to educate South Africans on the importance of the industry to the economy. Every year during the month of September, a particular province is identified in hopes of increasing domestic travel to further elevate the sector and its local participants.
Considering the growing trend of tourism and domestic travel, the potential risks that this presents to children specifically in South Africa, has more than often been neglected. Furthermore, South Africa has officially been declared as the country with the highest percentage of traveling sexual offenders within the African continent.
This was the backdrop that brought Child Welfare South Africa (CWSA) and ECPAT International on board to host a conference recently held in Pretoria, focusing on the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism (SECTT) in Africa.
The conference was a follow-up on the recommendations of a Global Study on SECTT that was launched in 2016, which reflects on the protection of children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism. The purpose of the conference was to raise awareness on the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism and generate a shared sense of commitment to address the issue.
Social-TV caught up with Sisa Ntsona, CEO of SA Tourism at the launch of Tourism month in Mpumalanga to gain more insight on the contingency plans in place to help reduce the number of children at risk to sexual exploitation in the industry.
Watch Sisa Ntshona interview on our home page.
