DETERMINANTS OF CHILD SEX EXPLOITATION BY TOURISTS IN KENYA: A CASE STUDY OF MOMBASA NORTH COAST

Abstract

Kenya is synonymous with Safari destination in tourism circles internationally because of its main two products namely; wildlife and Coastal beach. However, cultural and sex tourism products are becoming prevalent to tourist, such that the tourism industry is facing different challenges towards child sex exploitation by tourists (CSET) in Kenya. The purpose of this research was to find the determinants of CSET in Mombasa North Coast, Kenya (MNCK). The research adopted descriptive design. The target population was 108,778 (County government of Kilifi and Mombasa, 2017) children involved in sex tourism industry and sample size of 384 children were selected using Krejcie and Morgan Table (1970). The study used both purposive sampling and stratification methods in sampling the children. Convenient method was used to select 22 tourist hotels out of 44 tourist hotels (KAHC, 2018) in MNCK. The study used both primary and secondary data which was collected by use of questionnaire survey and direct observation. The analyzing of qualitative data was done by using a presented format in thematic content analysis. The quantitative data was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics through the help of statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS) whereby chi-square (χ²), ANOVA and descriptive tests were performed. The research found out that the growth of tourism sector in MNCK has no proper controls especially those affecting children aged between 6 and 18 who make up 96.8% majority, which revealed that CSET is widespread at the MNCK tourist circuit. The study concluded that poverty (47.2%) is the major factor leading to the widespread of CSET in MNCK followed by peer pressure, illiteracy, modern technology and finally culture. Since, the CSET affects both the community and the children through their socio-economic life, the government through the tourism ministry has to strengthen the legal framework to be strictly followed by all stakeholders in the tourism sector in order to curb such illegal practices in Kenya, MNCK tourist circuit.