Hotel steps up its fight

Alan Bell said this was a huge industry driven byNadi on the issue of child sex tourism. money and the idea behind the training was to create awareness and protect children.

On Thursday Mr Bell held four training sessions for 90 staff members of Novotel Suva.

"We don't anticipate anything to happen here," he said

"We would like to make them aware that Accor has accepted the responsibility to make their hotels child friendly.

"The training reinforces what people already know and what we are asking of the staff is nothing more than how they look after their children at home."

Novotel Suva general manager Simon Harper said it was about responsible tourism.

The problem, he said was an international one, not isolated.

"Instead of feeling that they need to turn a blind eye to it we want them to know there is a protocol in place to report it," he said.

"The training is to support the staff. Earlier this year, Accor Group of Hotels in Fiji and New Zealand registered as signatory to the global responsible tourism code of conduct known as The Code to fight against the exploitation of children.

ECPAT Child ALERT is a registered charitable trust working to prevent the sexual exploitation of children.
The Fiji Times Online, 26 November, 2011