A shared approach to combating trafficking in the hospitality sector

Thursday 17 July 2025

Human trafficking is not a marginal phenomenon in Italy. After several years, our country continues to be a key transit and destination point, with numbers on the rise. In 2023 alone, over 2,000 victims were identified, and the most recent data show a rapidly changing picture, in which labour exploitation is now the predominant form, while the age, gender and origin of those involved vary.

It is a constantly evolving phenomenon, which follows migration flows and the latest policies, and requires attention, coordination and concrete responses. To respond to these needs and support more effective implementation of the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive 2024 and the European Strategy 2021-2025, five European countries – Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Spain and the Netherlands, which are particularly exposed to both the phenomenon of trafficking and the socio-economic importance of the tourism and hospitality sector, have launched a joint initiative entirely dedicated to the hospitality and tourism sector to strengthen prevention, identification and protection of potential victims: HOST – Tackling Human Trafficking in the Hospitality Sector.

The tourism and hospitality sector in Italy is constantly dynamic and growing, but at the same time characterised by strong seasonality, which makes staff recruitment fragmented and often delegated to temporary agencies, subcontractors and informal networks that, on the one hand, respond to market needs but, on the other, can in turn generate vulnerability, especially for female workers and migrant workers, as well as for those sectors that are increasingly outsourced, such as cleaning and catering. In this complex context, promoting ethical hospitality models and decent working conditions requires a shared commitment between institutions, businesses and civil society.

In Italy, the initiative will be implemented mainly in Sicily thanks to the collaboration between CESIE and ANCI Sicilia, which will join forces to promote ethical hospitality practices in the Palermo area and, more generally, throughout the region. The Sicilian hospitality sector, including tourism, catering and accommodation facilities, is experiencing a new boom in growth, but at the same time continues to be extremely vulnerable, as it is fuelled by often precarious working conditions, a large presence of migrant workers and insufficient controls, which make it particularly exposed to the risks of exploitation.

Through awareness-raising activities, targeted training, collaboration between various local bodies and institutions, as well as direct support to the structures involved, HOST aims to strengthen the hospitality sector’s ability to prevent, recognise and combat situations of exploitation.

In the coming months, CESIE and ANCI Sicilia will launch a joint initiative involving various activities in the region, including:

seminars for managers and directors of accommodation facilities;

workshops for migrant workers;

sharing workshops between different actors;

public awareness-raising events;

exchanges of good practices between local and international actors.

The idea behind HOST is to promote and disseminate ethical practices that always place respect for human rights at the centre of everything, valuing shared responsibility as a lever for real and lasting change. In this collective journey, our commitment as CESIE will be to make every party responsible for building a more dignified, ethical, responsible and secure working future.

To find out more about upcoming activities and get actively involved, please contact: cinzia.broccolo@cesie.org

About HOST

HOST – Tackling Human Trafficking in the Hospitality sector is funded by DG for Migration and Home Affairs (HOME), Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF).