INITIAL IMPACT ANALYSIS OF ANTI-TRAFFICKING TRAINING FOR LODGING SECTOR EMPLOYEES

End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism-United States (ECPAT) strives to create a world in which no child is bought, sold, or used for sex. ECPAT works with the hospitality industry to provide hotel staff with training on the commercial sexual exploitation of children. ECPAT enlisted a Capstone team to measure how many hotels received its training and to identify if the training program achieved its intended outcomes of increased awareness of commercial sexual exploitation of children, increased security measures, and a decrease in human trafficking incidents. The Capstone team created and conducted a phone survey of a randomized sample of hotels nationwide. The results showed that hotel managers who participated in ECPAT's training reported that staff awareness of commercial sexual exploitation had increased within the last three years. The team's research culminated in a set of recommendations, including a data collection method and framework for future qualitative studies. The data collection methodology will allow ECPAT to conduct similar research to track data and examine the long-term effects of its training program.