Exploring host-children’s engagement in tourism: Transcending the dichotomy of universalism and cultural relativism

Abstract

Globally, considerable numbers of child workers are engaged in the tourism industry. Despite international ef­ forts to eradicate all forms of child labour, the number of child labourers in the service industries has increased due to the ambiguity and challenges in defining child labourers in tourism, the dichotomic views on child labour, and the absence of children’s voices in research. This paper explores host-children’s perception of their engagement in tourism and proposes a transformative paradigm to transcend the dichotomy of universalism and cultural relativism. Employing photo-elicitation interviews with 82 Cambodian host-children, this paper iden­ tifies both favourable and unfavourable perceptions of host-children’s engagement in tourism. Hence, it is argued that host-children’s engagement in tourism should not be seen as black and white but as a complicated social phenomenon. Based on the findings and discussion, a conceptual framework is proposed to demonstrate how the transformative paradigm guides to address host-children’s engagement in tourism.