Read more at McClatchyDC.com…

Sex trade is thriving in Costa Rica
By Tim Rogers

The slumping global economy is having a stimulus effect on Costa Rica’s famous sex-tourism industry, as a growing number of unemployed women — from Colombia to the Dominican Republic — flock to San Jose to seek a living in the world’s oldest profession.

In popular prostitution hot spots such as the Hotel & Casino Del Rey and Key Largo, local prostitutes compete with an influx of foreign women from Nicaragua, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and even Russia. The increase in numbers and variety of working women here has reaffirmed Costa Rica’s position as an international hub for prostitution, which is legal and regulated by the government since 1894.

But not everyone is happy about the increased competition, which, along with a contracting economy, has required some prostitutes to lower their prices by as much as 40 to 50 percent.

“Business is bad. The problem is competition. Sometimes I don’t even make enough to take a taxi home after work,” said Costa Rican prostitute Mayela, as she lingers by the bar at Key Largo in search of a client.

Some analysts and commentators are suggesting Serbia could help it’s cause if it follows some other areas and cultivates an image as a sex tourism destination.  Read the whole article at Novinite.com…

“Experts”: Serbia Should Follow Bulgaria Prostitution, Sex Tourism Model

Serbian “experts” believe that Serbia should follow Bulgaria’s model of handling the prostitution and sex tourism industries in order to raise state revenue.

According to publications in the Serbian media quoted by the BGNES news agency, the cited “experts” estimated that the country’s state budget could raise additional revenue of over EUR 500 M from changes in its approach to prostitution.

They believe that the additional benefits of finding a way to legalize the prostitution would also boost the local economy and turn Serbia into a country with “regulated sex tourism”.The prostitutes in Serbia are believed to be about 40 000.

The Chair of the Association of Night Clubs, Slavoljup Veljkovic, is quoted as saying that the prostitution industry in Serbia commanded enormous sums of money, pointing out that one prostitute could “serve” about ten men per night, and that the prostitutes did not have vacations and days off.

Veljkovic is quoted as calling for adopting the Bulgarian experience where “each year officially the Bulgarian prostitutes makes at least EUR 1,8 B, which is 7,2% of the country’s GDP”. According to his calculations, the Serbian prostitutes were no worse, and could make at least EUR 1,5 B per year.

An intriguing, compelling and educational read

Men travel the world for all sorts of reasons.  They seek to expand their range of experiences.  They look to visit faraway lands and enrich their life paths.   And of course, some of them are seeking relatively uncomplicated sexual encounters with a variety of women.

Men seeking the latter often find themselves trekking to places like Thailand to get their pleasure.  Indeed, the world offers many such sexual paradises for the modern man seeking sexual variety and adventure.  Haiti is one of those paradises, and the author of Naked in Haiti explores the travels of a man from the USA who takes a vacation in Haiti, looking for some sexual frolic and finding some intrigue along the way.

Early in the book, the narrator meets a social worker for the United Nations named Ingrid.  She’s a classic modern day progressive, filled with slogans (’Sister Solidarity’) and cuts so many corners with her thinking processes.  Still, Ingrid serves an important literary function – she allows a dialogue so that the author can explore aspects of sex tourism and the related philosophy and world view surrounding it.

The author is smart and well educated (evidently a college professor from somewhere in the USA), so his discourses with Ingrid are quite intelligent.  Of course, ‘Sister Solidarity’ is repulsed by such frank discussions, ironic since she is so representative of the type that likes to believe they are capable of adult and mature discussions, while in fact they tend to mire discourse in a labyrinth of euphemisms and dubious assumptions.

I don’t mean to depict the book as simply a socratic exchange, exploring the issues surrounding prostitution, sex tourism, and related pastimes.  It’s much more than that, and quite a compelling read.  The thing is, these issues are not given much attention in mainstream culture.  Whenever it comes up, it’s in the context of a human trafficking breaking news, or related ornery and criminal practices.  No question, human trafficking is a serious problem, but it’s just a subset of the whole world of sex tourism that it is a mistake to believe the ugly face of sex trafficking completely permeates the world of commercial sex.

The action quickly takes the duo to ‘The Florida Club,’ ostensibly a strip club but more accurately a bordello of sorts. Here, Ingrid really gets out of character, but that’s part of the fun of this book.  Like real life, people aren’t exactly what they seem, and events sometimes take strange, unpredictable turns.  That’s life, that’s what people say.

The book has a definite episodic nature, but that’s part of the charm.  But the chief strength of Naked in Haiti is that it explores these topics maturely.  I recommend this book for anyone interested in some insights into the industry, particularly from the consumer point of view.

You can order a copy of the book at Amazon.com.

The long arm of the law catches up with an alleged sex tour promoter.  LoHud reports….

Tomkins Cove man accused of promoting sex tour

A Tomkins Cove man has been accused of organizing sex tours to the Dominican Republic where companions could be made available, the District Attorney’s Office said today.

The man, 49, was arrested yesterday at his home where authorities executed a search warranted and confiscated several computers, the district attorney said. He was charged with two counts of felony third-degree promoting prostitution.

This is the first case authorities are trying under the revised 2007 Human Trafficking Legislation, which clarified that selling travel-related services for the purpose of prostitution is a felony, the district attorney said.

The man, who authorities identified as a day trader, has been linked to an advertisement on craigslist.com for “Hot and erotic trip to paradise” that offered monthly excursions to the Dominican Republic with vacation packages offering room, liquor, meals and a companion or companions for the week, officials said.

Leaner economic times make times tough in Bangkok.  Read the whole story at Fin24.com…

Bangkok sex workers feel pinch

The go-go bars are empty and sex is on sale at half price as Bangkok’s infamous red light districts suffer from a blockade of the capital’s airports.

“It’s high season, but now it’s like low season,” said Nan, a scantily-clad hostess at one deserted nightspot in the Thai capital’s notorious Patpong area.

An old man played guitar and sang along to a karaoke machine inside. Outside, beneath the pink neon, about 10 women in almost identical low-cut dresses tried to drum up trade.

Although anti-government protesters have ended an eight-day siege of Bangkok’s airports, the effect of Thailand’s ongoing political chaos on the tourism industry is devastating.

Sex tourism is no exception. Patpong depends on foreigners to keep afloat, but as the 350 000 air travellers stranded by the airport closures rush to leave Thailand, replacements are not coming in.

“Now Thailand has a problem – no customers,” said Lam, a man who works for Nan’s bar, luring tourists in off the streets by posing as a friendly Thai offering unsolicited advice on good places to go.

Lam is hopeful the trade will return to Patpong, a lurid strip of live shows and sleazy night-life.

“It is because of the airport, but now the airport is all clear,” he said.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is not so optimistic.

The group expects incoming travellers in 2009 to be half the 14.8 million the kingdom saw last year, with word of the protests causing tourists considering a trip to Thailand to book elsewhere.

At the normally standing-room-only “ping-pong” shows, five or six women swarm each new arrival. Some are following the example of Thailand’s resorts and luxury hotels by offering discounted rates.

Prostitutes offer two hours of sexual services for 800 baht (about $22) instead of the normal 1 500 to 2 000 baht that would cost.

A look at how the slowing global economy is impacting the sex trade in The Czech Republic. Read the whole story in The Prague Daily Monitor…

Tourist slump slows sex industry
By Jiří Michal

The economic recession is not impacting just traditional industries. Less mainstream services, like the sex industry, have also been hit. “Tourist numbers are falling, especially when it comes to tourists from rich countries. This means demand for sex services, mostly used by wealthier tourists, is also falling,” said tourism analyst Jaromír Beránek from Mag Consulting. The Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ) does not have numbers yet confirming this trend.

The Czech Republic can still “boast”, however, that it belongs among top 20 sex tourism destinations in the world, according to sex-tourism.org, a site that maps sex industries around the world. According to ČSÚ estimates, Czech sex industry revenue last year reached CZK 10 billion. Of that CZK 7 billion was spent by foreigners. Like the other top 20 destinations, the Czech Republic attracts clients thanks to its selection of cheap sex services, its permissive approach to prostitution and its minimal regulation of the industry. “What’s more, since joining the EU, the Czech Republic serves as a stop-over for prostitutes migrating from the east to the west,” added Beránek.

Prague remains a paradise for tourists seeking prostitutes. “The monthly revenue of the sex industry around Wenceslas Square is estimated at around CZK 0.5 billion,” said Beránek.

An update on the sex tourism business in Madagascar.  Alternet.com reports…

MADAGASCAR: No welcome for sex tourism

The warning posters start at the airport in the capital, Antananarivo, informing visitors that Madagascar says “NO to sex tourism” and “Malagasy women are not tourist souvenirs”.

Large billboards notifying arrivals that the authorities will also prosecute those caught having sex with children line the route into the city, and at tourist hotels – along with a colourful “Welcome to Madagasikara – the land of the lemurs” – there is likely to be a sign saying the hotel has a right to check the age of anyone accompanying guests to their rooms.

Madagascar, the vast tropical island off the east coast of Africa, is trying to expunge itself from the sex tourism map, and especially to close its doors to paedophiles shopping for minors.

To underline its commitment, the government has adopted a new law against the sexual exploitation of children that includes punishment of the adult exploiters; several foreigners have been convicted as a result.

But a walk after dark through the streets of Toliara, a thriving tourist town in southern Madagascar, shows that much still needs to be done. Sex workers own the streets, blowing kisses and waving at foreigners, trying to cash in on the tourists who are not visiting this impoverished Indian Ocean island for its unique bio-diversity.

“It’s a very cheap place, women are beautiful, there are few controls on sex tourism. Nobody says anything about this; you can come here and do whatever you want,” said Jose Louis Guirao, who runs projects for Bel Avenir, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) promoting educational, social and health-related initiatives. “The women start when they are 10 to 12; they are very young.”

A report by the US State Department this year said Madagascar was a “source country for women and children trafficked within the country for the purposes of sexual exploitation”, but praised the government for trying to tackle the problem.

The reality is that children, mostly from rural areas, are highly vulnerable to exploitation: they are trafficked for domestic servitude, forced labour and sex work; children often enter the labour market with the approval of their mothers, for whom their income may be the only source of living.

Continue reading ‘MADAGASCAR: No welcome for sex tourism’ »

A neat letter to the editor that appeared in The Kiev Post…

On the contrary regarding “Sex Tourism”

One reason people visit Kyiv from all over the world, instead of places like Youngstown, Ohio, is the friendly, relaxed atmosphere it provides sex tourists.

Dear Editor,

I beg to differ with your [Aug. 7] article [“Rising sex tourism unwelcome”] that says that rising sex tourism in Kyiv is unwelcome. One reason people visit Kyiv from all over the world, instead of places like Youngstown, Ohio, is the friendly, relaxed atmosphere it provides sex tourists. This, in turn, promotes other aspects of the city’s entertainment industry and touches other corners of the consumer sector: mobile phones, jewelry, evening attire, perfume and restaurants. Many of your advertisements come from the sex industry. Many of the men who frequent restaurants that carry your paper, such as the sports bar at Arena, where I picked up my copy, prefer women far too young to be interested in much other than their wallets.

The feminists protesting the matter are few and far outnumbered. They remind me of women demonstrating against the fur industry in Moscow. The complaints they raise against prostitution, such as the argument that it prevents young women from becoming doctors and lawyers and such could just as easily be raised about waitressing. People rarely instruct male taxi drivers that they should study to become accountants and project managers and the like. Your article doesn’t mention the negative role often played by pimps in duping young women into selling their bodies in other countries, and in fact implies that they do so as a result of rational decisionmaking and the desire to participate in the nation’s barely 18yearold consumer culture. Prostitution in Ukraine is the result of a permissive culture and the vast disparity between rich and poor. A healthier, more accepting attitude towards prostitution would in turn encourage safer sex. Why is it any worse than tattoos, which involve the use of potentially infectious needles, and leave millions of capricious young people stained for life?

Travis Jones

Moscow

A brief look at the sex tourism industry as it relates to India.  IBN reports…

Sex tourism, Incredible India’s dark side
Sumit Pande / CNN-IBN

New Delhi: The tourism industry has earned $12 billion as foreign exchange for the country, but its growth in India is also making skeptics sit up and take a close look at its darker side – sex tourism. In fact the Ministry of Women and Child Development has commissioned a study on sex tourism in India.

Taking a serious note of the rise in sex tourism in the country, the Government is looking into some of the cases in the recent past like two British nationals, Duncan Grant and Allan Waters, who face charges of paedophilia.

Another state government report in Andhra Pradesh revealed an increase in HIV cases near the holy town of Tirupati. So a study is being conducted to find out how the growth in the tourism industry is also fuelling prostitution in the country.

The study was commissioned to a non-government organisation (NGO) but it was kept under wraps since the issue was sensitive.

The study, which is being conducted by Gram Niyojan Kendra, covers more than 18 states in various tourist centres, including religious sites. The elaborate study also includes interviews of over 1,000 victims of sex trade at various tourist spots.

“It’s a very important study. One has to study the effect of a fledging industry in the country,” Director of Centre for Social Research Ranjana Kumari said.

The initial data trickling in indicates that the problem is within the country – domestic tourists rather than the foreign ones are fuelling sex trade in India.

The final report is slated to be out by November this year, which could very well help policy makers regulate and channelise an industry which is the country’s top foreign earner after information technology.

You can’t fool an old dog like JV! It seems that women (all along the good looks spectrum) just jump at any chance to dress all slutty and turn the heat up. Look at what they’ve done to Halloween! So I find this little protest of dubious merit!  Don’t they have some sorority initiation to go to?

The Daily Telegraph reports…

Ukraine students in prostitute protest against sex industry

STUNNING students launched a blunt protest against Ukraine’s booming brothel business – by dressing as prostitutes and telling sex tourists to get lost.

The demonstration, in capital Kiev, is tied to fears held amongst many Ukrainians that the growing sex tourism industry is tarnishing their country.

“Lots of foreigners come here for sex, and to put it bluntly sex tours are now being sold. We don’t want our country to become a big brothel. It’s a shame and it’s shameful,” said one girl.

Prostitution is illegal but nevertheless widespread, with around 12,000 prostitutes in the former Soviet republic. Many head overseas to ply their trade – some of them becoming sex slavery victims.

And increasing numbers of US and European visitors are heading to Kiev for the same reason they once favoured Bangkok – to hunt out sordid pleasures.