Sex tourism involving underage youth in Black Sea coastal resorts endangered the image of Bulgaria and Romania as tourism destinations, ECPAT organisation against child prostitution representative Astrid Winkler said.

Bulgaria and Romania had to take measures because sex tourism could have negative effect already seen in other countries which neglected it, Winkler said as quoted by Deutsche Welle (DW) Radio.

Thailand was an example of a country that fights sex tourism but fails to defeat the negative image already gained. Experts said that the situation in the Black Sea region will become similar.

Bulgaria lacks official statistics for the number of children ‘working’ at its coast. Children became victims of sexual exploitation at the age of 13 or 14. Some of them were of Roma origin, others were victims of human trafficking, DW said.

Winkler said that the organisation received weak support from Bulgaria’s government.

The resolution of the problem depended on the countries where it existed, but also on the countries where the sex tourists came from, Winkler said.