March 16, 2005
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - Brazil has become the world's premier sex-tourism destination after December's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami wrecked much of Southeast Asia's tourism business, according to a leading Brazilian hotel executive.
Paul Sistare, the president of Brazilian hotel chain Atlantica Hotels International, said that sex tourists turned to Brazil in greater numbers after the tsunami heavily damaged Thailand's tourism business, according to a report the newspaper Estado de So Paulo Wednesday.
Thailand was until last year the world's leading destination for sex tourists, according to Interpol.
"The tsunami has shifted the route of sex tourism" toward Brazil, Sistare was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
Sistare was speaking at the launch of a partnership between Atlantica Hotels and the World Childhood Foundation Institute of Brazil to combat the sexual exploitation of minors in tourism destinations. The partnership aims at training hotel workers and sensitizing their guests on the subject.
According to estimates by the UN Children's Fund, at least 150,000 minors are engaged in prostitution in Brazil.
A recent Brazilian Congressional report concluded that the country's sex tourism relies on the collaboration of travel agencies, tourist guides, hotels, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, porters and taxi drivers.
Legislator Maria do Rosario, cited in Estado Wednesday, said that "the problem will only worsen if the country does not take drastic measures, like imprisoning tourists who are involved."
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - Brazil has become the world's premier sex-tourism destination after December's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami wrecked much of Southeast Asia's tourism business, according to a leading Brazilian hotel executive.
Paul Sistare, the president of Brazilian hotel chain Atlantica Hotels International, said that sex tourists turned to Brazil in greater numbers after the tsunami heavily damaged Thailand's tourism business, according to a report the newspaper Estado de So Paulo Wednesday.
Thailand was until last year the world's leading destination for sex tourists, according to Interpol.
"The tsunami has shifted the route of sex tourism" toward Brazil, Sistare was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
Sistare was speaking at the launch of a partnership between Atlantica Hotels and the World Childhood Foundation Institute of Brazil to combat the sexual exploitation of minors in tourism destinations. The partnership aims at training hotel workers and sensitizing their guests on the subject.
According to estimates by the UN Children's Fund, at least 150,000 minors are engaged in prostitution in Brazil.
A recent Brazilian Congressional report concluded that the country's sex tourism relies on the collaboration of travel agencies, tourist guides, hotels, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, porters and taxi drivers.
Legislator Maria do Rosario, cited in Estado Wednesday, said that "the problem will only worsen if the country does not take drastic measures, like imprisoning tourists who are involved."