Huffingtonpost has a nice read on this.
Recent political instability has also deterred efforts to regulate the sex tourism industry. Before the 2006 military coup, End Child Prostitution And Trafficking (ECPAT) had been collaborating with the Ministry of Tourism on creating a National Plan of Action to address the issue of child sex tourism. The initiative was suspended shortly after the ouster of the Thaksin administration. Now, the global economic downturn has made the Ministry of Tourism reluctant to reinvigorate efforts and give the outside world any impression that Thailand is anything but the "Land of Smiles." Giorgio Berardi, Program Officer for Combating Child-Sex Tourism (CST).at ECPAT, says Southeast Asia continues to harbor a reputation as a destination for sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism. "We still need far better enactment and enforcement of effective extraterritorial legislation," says Berardi.
Read the whole article on huffington posts "
The Economics of Commercial Sexual Exploitation"