Impact of Child Sex Exploitation on Tourism in Kenya: A Case Study of Mombasa County

Kenya is known worldwide as a Safari destination for many years. The two main products of tourism in Kenya have been wildlife and the coastal beach. However, in the recent times, cultural tourism and sex tourism are emerging as popular tourism products. Kenya’s tourism sector has been facing a challenge relating to Child Sex tourism which is illegal. Given the foregoing, it has become necessary to carry out this study with the overall purpose of determining the extent of Child Sex tourism in the Mombasa north tourism circuit of Kenya. The researcher established several findings. The community was after gains and benefits which influenced the attitude of Child Sex Tourism. There were Expectations on working in tourism industry but we later realized that majority of residents from Mombasa north coast got their livelihood from self-employment followed by farming. Poverty was another finding and the main factor enhancing Child Sex Tourism. The knowledge of children protection law existed at both the level of the child and the community. However, Government officials are either hesitant or compromised in implementing the existing laws. We also found out that tourists do not often respect societal rules and they expressed superior feelings. Tourists carry other extra activities with children which include; child pornography, drug abuse, drug trafficking and child human trafficking. These study findings are also in line with the study theories, Postcolonial feminist theory and Marxist theory on Poverty.