Children are Not Tourist Attractions: Orphanage Abuse Continues

It has been out of the news recently but the scandal that is Orphanage Tourism continues unabated in Cambodia.

 An AsianPacificPost.com article- Orphange Tourism Leads to Exploitation in Asia- shines light on the issue again. 

'...according to a 2011 UNICEF study, an estimated three out four children in Cambodia’s orphanages still have one living parent.'

'Children in these orphanages are rarely given an education, instead being put to work until the tourists come to visit, when they’re wheeled out as bait for donations. Unsurprisingly, little of those donations end up being spent on their care.'

“The really important message for all the tourists coming from Europe, from Australia, from the US, is that you are driving an industry that is incredibly abusive and exploitative of children."

*There are some fine orphanages in Cambodia. Sunrise Children's Village is a stand-out example.

 For more see:
http://www.asianpacificpost.com/article/5972-%E2%80%9Corphanage-tourism%E2%80%9D-leads-exploitation-asia.html
http://www.thinkchildsafe.org/thinkbeforevisiting/
http://cambodianbeginnings.blogspot.com/2013/04/think-before-visiting-orphanage.html

Good News Cambodia (2) Tourist Numbers

The first ten months of 2012 saw a 24% increase in the  number of tourists visiting Cambodia over the corresponding period in 2011.

Vietnam supplied the largest number of visitors to the kingdom (22% of total tourists), followed by Korea (12%) and China (9%). The neigbouring Laotians (7%) also came in significant numbers for such a small country but the Thai, who share a common border, and are comparatively wealthy and large in number, provided just 6% of all tourists.