A new report from the World Trade and Tourism Council (WTTC) signals how the global travel and tourism community can work to help eradicate human trafficking .

The report, published with support from the Carlson Family Foundation, builds on research from the WTTC’s Human Trafficking Taskforce, which was created in 2019 at the Global Summit in Seville, Spain.

The new report, "Preventing Human Trafficking: An Action Framework for the Travel & Tourism Sector," aims to strengthen cooperation across stakeholders and share best practices to raise awareness regarding ways that the travel and tourism community can proactively address the problem.

The report details solutions within the travel and tourism sector and beyond, and illustrates how states, stakeholders, private companies, international organizations and more can work together to prevent these transnational crimes.

“Human trafficking is a global crime which preys on the vulnerable, continues to grow and affect the lives of millions around the world.

“This vital report offers a framework for the Travel & Tourism sector to play its part to help combat human trafficking," Virginia Messina, senior vice president and acting CEO, WTTC. "Given the sector’s inadvertent position in the path of human traffickers, we need to shoulder our responsibility to ensure that the Travel & Tourism sector offers a safe and welcoming environment for those who work within it."

Messina noted that the report plays an important role in creating a solution to the problem of human trafficking.

"The sector needs a cohesive approach and focus its efforts on driving forward advocacy related to human trafficking by engaging all key stakeholders. We hope that this report can aid in that task," she said. "This in-depth report highlights the need to work on facilitating an approach which will enhance the understanding of the crime of human trafficking, enable better identification, prevention, and mitigation of potential and actual impacts of the sector, and further public-private collaboration to ensure that appropriate steps are taken by governments when human trafficking is detected."