What The Travel Industry Is Doing To Prevent Human Trafficking — And How You Can Help

Human trafficking may not be something you think about happening next door in your luxury hotel or on a popular commercial airline.

Although human trafficking — defined as the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain commercial sex acts or labor — can take place anywhere, ECPAT International (a global network of organizations that works to end the trafficking of children) says the travel industry is on the front lines.

The International Labour Association estimated there were 24.9 million people in forced labor and 15.4 million in forced marriage in 2016 around the globe. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) released data that revealed that hotels and motels were the fourth-most common locations for sex trafficking in 2019.

Forty travel organizations have currently agreed to a code of conduct designed to protect children from sexual exploitation in the travel and tourism industries. Members have to agree to implement six steps, including training employees, providing information to travelers and annually reporting their efforts.

The federal government passed legislation in 2016 that mandated United States-based airlines train flight attendants to spot suspected instances of human trafficking, and legislation was brought to Congress in 2018 that would require hotels and airlines to teach employees how to recognize signs of trafficking to be eligible to win government contracts.

Fortunately, some travel companies aren’t waiting for the government to step up. Here are a few ways seven top brands are working to stop human trafficking — and how you can get involved, too.

Read the full story by Jordi Lippe-McGraw on The Points Guy.

Category: Corporate Responsibility