Novotel and ibis Together in Campaign against Sexual Exploitation of Children

The leaders in the hotel business in Sofia - Novotel and ibis, part of the AccorHotels Group, and ECPAT Bulgaria signed the Code for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Tourism at an official press conference organized by M3 Communications Group, Inc. yesterday. The three institutions also signed a Memorandum for Cooperation as part of which the employees of the hotels will be trained how to prevent cases of child sexual abuse.

Lydia Zagorova, President of ECPAT Bulgaria, Irek Weglowski, Vice President of the Management Board of Orbis Hotel Group, Vincent Dujardin, General Manager of Novotel Sofia, Tanya Markova, General Manager of ibis Sofia Airport,  Eva Zhecheva, Chairwoman of the State Agency for Child Protection and Yavor Kolev, Head of Cybercrime Unit at CDCOC took part in the press conference and expressed their support for the cooperation. The Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports – Nina Naydenova, also shared her opinion on the issue and promised the Ministry will support the hotels and ECPAT in this great cause – to prevent sexual exploitation of children. 

This new campaign undoubtedly is a crucial step towards raising awareness of the problem among the public and in particular in the hospitality industry, added Naydenova.

The press conference was also attended by various representatives of media, state institutions, NGOs, the Ministry of Interior, Border Police, and many more.