With #TourismHeroTuesday ECPAT USA Names the International Tour Management Institute (ITMI) a Tourism Hero for their Efforts in Helping to Prevent Human Trafficking
Sausalito, Calif. (PRWEB) February 13, 2018 -- With #TourismHeroTuesday ECPAT /http://www.ecpatusa.org celebrates those who have taken a stand against sex trafficking in the tourism and hospitality industry. ECPAT recently recognized ITMI http://www.itmisf.com for the tools and best practices taught during its training. As a result, two ITMI tour directors were able to identify and report situations of suspected child sex trafficking to law enforcement. In one of the incidents, the suspect has since been convicted and sent to prison.
Founded in 1976, ITMI was designed to train professional tour directors, guides and travel staff. As the first tourism school to sign the ECPAT Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Exploitation in Travel and Tourism in 2012, ITMI has taught thousands of tourism professionals to recognize and appropriately respond to signs of human trafficking.
“We are very pleased to receive this recognition by ECPAT. As a leader in the education and certification of professional tour directors, guides and tourism industry professionals, it is our responsibility to inform our students and partners about this global problem,” said Ted Bravos, CEO of ITMI. “By providing them with the training to recognize and report potential traffickers, they can make a tremendous impact in helping to end this horrific crime.”
By Presidential Proclamation, January was officially named National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, to bring awareness to that fact that there are still over 20 million people living in slavery today. ITMI is pleased to offer this valuable education to tour directors, guides, motor coach drivers and other tourism and hospitality industry workers.
About ITMI:
Since 1976, ITMI has been America’s premier training and certification program for professional tour directors, guides, motor coach drivers and travel staff. For more information about ITMI contact Annemarie Osborne Annemarie.Osborne(at)gmail(dot)com 949-237-2906 or visit http://www.itmisf.com.
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Annemarie Osborne, International Tour Management Institute, http://www.itmisf.com, +1 949-237-2906, [email protected]
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