Accor and ECPAT organise Walk Rally to help protect children

Accor and ECPAT are organising a charity walk rally on Sunday 12 October in Bangkok's Lumpini Park to raise funds to support ECPAT's child protection activities in northern Thailand.

The 'Walk for Children - Charity Walk' starts at 8am and is open to the public, with tickets priced at 500 baht (US$12.50) and available from all Accor managed hotels in Bangkok. The event is expected to attract over 500 participants and raise 500,000 baht including sponsorships, which will be donated in full to ECPAT.

A warm up Charity Party and Fashion Show will kick off the festivities on Saturday 11 October at Concept CM2 at Novotel Bangkok on Siam Square starting from 7pm.

Tickets to the walk rally also include entrance to the Charity Party and Fashion Show and a chance to win heaps of prizes - including two return international air tickets for two persons with accommodation - plus a commemorate tee-shirt. 

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) have offered their generous support to the event. TAT is offering its expert assistance to Accor's Human Resource Department, while the BMA will allow the event to be held at Lumpini Park, Bangkok's largest public park, free of charge.

Accor was the first hotel group to sign ECPAT's Code of Conduct for the Protection for Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism last February.

In cooperation with ECPAT (End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), Accor has already implemented a series of projects to prevent commercial sexual exploitation of children, such as developing skills of young girls at risk and training its hotel staff on how to recognise and prevent child sex tourism.

Accor has also launched its own mission statement for responsible tourism and environmental protection. Most of the key points from the Code of Conduct were included in that statement.

In April, Accor was awarded the prestigious PATA Gold Award in the Education and Training category for its work with ECPAT to fight the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The honour is equally shared with ECPAT, who provided its 'ChildWise Tourism' training programme as the foundation, and the TAT for its co-operation and support in launching the training in Thailand.