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Seminar Series: Informal Work in Tourism


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The Transforming Tourism Initiative realized two seminars on the situation of informal workers in tourism. Workers in the informal economy are a crucial element of tourism everywhere -they make up a majority of tourism employment. People in the informal economy were hit first and hardest by the impacts of COVID-19. Their vulnerability and poverty increased during the pandemic. At the same time, the informality also inside the formal Tourism sector increases and new business models entered the tourism market that decreases the level of social protection for workers.


1st Seminar: Women in the Informal Economy

The first seminar focused on the situation of women in the informal sector worldwide. Dr. Rosa Codina reported on her research on tourism in Latin America. Sonia Diaz, from the Global Network WIEGO - Women in informal employment reported on trends and developments outside tourism. Lucky Chhetri, Executive Director of3 Sisters Adventure Trekking, presented her programs for women in Nepal.

The first online seminar is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsXdD0QqoRg


2nd Seminar: Self-Organization in the Informal Sector

The second seminar addressed practical experiences and challenges in self-organization and community representation of people from the informal sector.  Pilar Balbuena, of StreetNet International reported on the difficulties of making their voices heard by policy makers on informal sector issues.  Lamine Sarr, co-founder of Sindicato Popular de Vendedores Ambulantes and Top Manta brand, gave an impressive testimony about his experience of discrimination as an undocumented refugee in Spain and his approach to founding his own Cooperative for Street Vendors. Bienvenido Cuevas, General Secretary of the trade union UNATRAHOREST from the Dominican Republic identified common challenges that workers in the formal and informal sectors experience in tourism and how the boundaries between both sectors are becoming more and more blurred.


The second online seminar is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzfdVu_5LCY&feature=youtu.be


Online seminar: Child protection during tourism project visits.

The webinar "Tourism for Good? Respecting Child Rights in Project Visits" by the Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism, held in May 2022, was targeted at tourism businesses and other stakeholders offering project visits where tourists come into contact with children during their travels. The seminar provided guidance to ensure children's rights during tourism-related project visits. It showed concrete measures on how to implement and improve child protection policies and procedures concerning project visits in tourism.


The online seminar is available at https://www.humanrights-in-tourism.net/Webinar-Child-Rights-Project-Visits