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Commercial sex, a hot summer flirt, or the true love?!

Commercial sex, a hot summer flirt, or the true love?!
Author: Elisabeth Falasz
3 Commentries
The choice of a destination which a tourist would like to visit depends on his or her motivations. Generally considered this means, there are forces out of any nature, which imply a particular behaviour as they are either acting on or within a person. With time passing by, and a tourism industry establishing itself globally, the suppliers which mostly appear as tour operators, experienced the phenomenon of an \'elbow society\' over years. Here it was important to not get lost between the mass of suppliers, and therefore to distinguish oneself by offering products involving emotional benefits for the customers. The travellers nowadays are sensitive and thus focus upon the extraordinary something when picking their holiday destination.

Due to globalisation, the increase of a special type of holiday making was stimulated: sex tourism. It appears everywhere in the world, although it is much more noticeable in developing than developed countries, as these are the places where interactions related to sex tourism mainly occur. Although a strong relation between tourism and sex has been outlined, it must be noticed that either of them has no dependence on the other, and therefore could also exist only by itself. However, there are reasons why this sector was able to emerge, and some of those can be found among the motivations. It is argued that the motivations of travellers who are looking for sex related activities during their journeys, are similar to those of normal tourists. Within this particular context though, the driving force is the engagement into sexual relationships. The travellers who perform this type of holiday making, are so-called sex tourists. From a wider perspective, these tourists look for sexual engagement with the local population of the country they traveled to. However, I assume that such a generalisation is not appropriate within a controversial topic like this.

There is a variety of reasons why tourists become part of the sex tourism industry. In the first instance, a direct association is evident with erotic motives. Observations have shown a significantly higher interest of men than women in sex holidays. Moreover, the interest in trips of erotic nature gets higher as the people get older. Within this motivation though, there are different sorts of experiences the individual sex tourist aims at. High numbers of them have the ambition to engage in short sexual encounters for a night or a few days. This is due to the facts, that the engagement is either cheaper and easier to obtain in the foreign country, the coitus is also offered without protection through condoms, or with girls who have not menstruated yet. Furthermore, they use the legal situation abroad, as there prostitution is either allowed or at least endowed due to high generated income for the country. Also sex tourists are attracted by the different looking or foreign stereotypes. If the sex tourists live in marriage or relationships, they explain their sexual interaction on holidays with the satisfaction of desires which are not fulfilled through their actual partners. The reasons why sex workers, and in this particular case prostitutes, offer themselves for sexual services vary as well. However, mostly it seems as an easy or sometimes even as the only way to earn money and support their families. Others consider it as an opportunity to find a wealthy spouse and start a better life away from oppression and unemployment. However, there is more to the equation.

Maybe it also happened to you? Maybe you have been on holiday, enjoying the sun with a cooled drink, and then it happened: a good-looking citizen passed by, presenting the well-formed and sun-tanned body, smiling to you in a way, which made you forget everything around you? Maybe you started talking and there was chemistry between you two. And maybe a kiss was not all that followed later on...

Well, this is sex tourism as well. Therefore it is not correct to only relate it with organised trips abroad which have the primary purpose to engage in commercial sexual with residents at the destination. Sex tourism can also occur without the focus upon sexual interaction. For instance, some sex tourists choose their destination wisely in order to find a long-term relationship. In addition, some sex workers have the same intention. This motivation may be described as (true) love or romances (for life). Moreover, sex tourists can be couples who want to escape from their daily life and and get sexual active for instance on romantic weekend trips.

So, the global presence of sex tourism is obvious but the topic itself needs to be considered with great caution. There is a strong linkage with commercial sex and prostitution. Nonetheless there is also a side to it without red districts and purely negative associations.



Main sources:

Bauer, T. G. & McKercher, B. (2003) Sex and Tourism. Journeys of Romance, Love, and Lust. London: The Haworth Hospitality Press.

Boryszkowski, J. (2011) \'Sex and Eroticism as Tourist Motives\', Journal of Tourism, 12(12): 22-27.

Oppermann, M. (1999) \'Sex Tourism\' Annals of Travel Research, 26 (2): 251-266.
A bit beyond of the Sex Tourism as a general
Author: Anssi Tapola
Falasz has provided an interesting conference paper on the primary concentration over sex tourism and its emergence to the world. However, the main research sources what have been carried out are relevantly old and maybe one reason why I have found contradictory and detailed information in some points. Nevertheless I agree that the globalisation have had a huge foothold to the emergence of sex tourism, and essentially in the developing world.

Falasz states that "Observations have shown a significantly higher interest of men than women in sex holidays". I would have been interested to hear what kind of observations we are talking about because according to a framework of Phillips (2008) it suggested that many of the sex tourists travelling to the developing world nowadays are female. Who has done the observations, when, where?

Because referring to the comment coming up later "Sex tourism can also occur without the focus upon sexual interaction". This is correct due to the fact that women tend to incorporate romance or other forms of emotion work that transcend the purely sexual, and instead of paying money to the "Beach boys" they get paid as material compensations. Moreover, although the male or female tourist is not looking for sexual interactions the hotel and resort employees are might be trained to offer them. For instance Cabezas (2006) mentions that in Cuba the management expect workers to personalize service and develop a social relationship. The use of emotional labour, functions as a corporate strategy used to increase return visitors. Hospitality workers are educated to please their guests and to befriend customers and therefore they are ready to have sex with them if needed. Moreover, to socialize with tourists can lead future job offers or even marriage, as Falasz mentions "Others consider it as an opportunity to find a wealthy spouse and start a better life away from oppression and unemployment".

Falasz goes on to state "This motivation may be described as (true) love or romances (for life)". Or is it just so called Romance Tourism? Or is it just the way to pursue the best outcome from tourists by the local workers?

The overall of this piece of work is very interesting and has lots of facts what I have found in my own research as well. Still, however, some of the research could have been more over contemporary world and used broader information over sex tourism as a whole, because it must be remembered that sex tourism is not just a one dimensional term and cannot be categorised easily.

Cabezas, A. (2006). The Eroticization of labor in Cuba´s All-Inclusive Resorts: Performing Race, Class and Gender in the New Tourist Economy. Social Identities. 12 (5), 507-521.

Phillips, J. (2008). Female Sex Tourism In Barbados: A Postcolonial Perspective. Brown Journal of World Affairs. 14 (2), 201-210.

What exactly is sex tourism and who is the victim?
Author: Marta Y. Gavrailova
This paper claims that peoples' choices of destinations and holiday are highly dependent on their motivations and holiday providers do their best to differentiate themselves by providing holidays which have emotional benefits to the tourists. The main discussion of this paper is sex tourism, which has been defined in a number of ways by different sources. The subject is very controversial because some definitions simply go as far as "going on a holiday with the purpose of having sex". In my opinion the subject is very broad and varies depending on the ways and means this happens. Some individuals go on a holiday and pay for sex with locals. However, it is common that others simply have sex with people they've met and that's how some engage in holiday flings, not necessarily with locals but individuals from other nationalities. Does that make them sex tourists? From other articles I've read and picked up on some common areas between tourism and sex tourism. In both cases tourists seek pleasure from their experiences. Sex tourism or the sex tourist is being frowned upon but it is not clear what features classify normal tourists into sex tourists. Some definitions claim that sex tourism occurs when individuals go on a holiday with the purpose of having sex; others state that sex tourism occurs when individuals go on a holiday to sleep with prostitutes, locals and even with children. Surely there is a difference between a young individual going on holiday to have some fun including flings with the opposite sex and an individual going on a holiday with every intention to pay for sex?

This paper picked up on the fact that males tend to engage in sex tourism much more than females. Reading through some articles related to the subject I found that sex tourism differs a lot between man and women as women usually seek for a holiday romance and are more unlikely to pay for sex, whereas men find paying for sex as an exertion of power and buying their ego back. Not to mention the dangers sleeping with locals pose for middle aged women. I've read about few women being dragged into romances with younger man who used them and pretended to love them. In the worst case scenario there are women who end up being robbed or even killed by locals who were only after their money. So is the sex tourist always the bad? Are you classed as sex tourist if you don't pay for sex? This needs to be clarified because not every tourist who engages in sexual intercourse during holiday can be classed as sex tourist. There are motivations relating to peoples' desires to engage in sex tourism. Some do simply because these services are cheaper in the country they've visited, others look to fulfill fantasies, some want to fulfill desires that their partners don't and from the last article I read, some think money is power and buy their ego back by paying young and good looking women to sleep with them. However, I found that women are often the victims who are being approached by younger good looking man and are made to believe that they are attractive and loved and only very few openly admit that they visit destinations with every intention to pay young man to have sex with them. For some providers of the services this is a way of life, a job and a way to bring food on the table because usually the countries popular with sex tourism are poor and locals have no other option.
Sex tourism can be a good thing for one fulfilling their needs but also poses a great risk due to AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. There are threats to both the individuals who seek it and the ones who provide it. Not to mention that some of the providers engage in selling their bodies against their will. There are safety issues to both sex tourists and the ones who provide it. There are many cases of kidnaps, violence, robberies and even peoples' lives being taken. As you can see there are a lot of sides to sex tourism, a lot of unexplored aspects and also some issues related to it. This paper picked up on some of them; however the paper could further be improved by providing clearer definitions of sex tourism and who is the sex tourist. The research can be expanded further by investigating sex tourism and women. There are also some articles you can see below, that I used in order to obtain my own vision on the subject.
Appleyard, D. (2008) Sun, Sex and Stupidity : The rise of divorces women indulging in sex tourism, <Online>, <Accessed on 14 May>, <Available at>,< http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1016275/Sun-sex-stupidity-Rise-divorced-women-indulging-sex-tourism.html>
Dickingson, P. (unknown) The much maligned sex tourist, <Online>, <Accessed on 14 May>, <Available on>, <http://peterdickinson.hubpages.com/hub/The-Much-Maligned-Sex-Tourist>

Tom, P. (2010) The Jordanian desert's other delight: sex tourism, <Online>, <Accessed, 14 of May>; <Available at>, < http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/jordan/100225/jordan-sex-tourism >


Commercial sex, a hot summer flirt, or the true love?!
Author: Magdalena M. Lezak
Falasz's conference paper focused on sex tourism which is controversial topic and not easy to define. Falasz stated that men are a lot more interested in sex tourism than women. There are some research papers that shown that women are also engaging in sex tourism. However, they are more looking for 'romance' and they are less likely to use prostitutes (Tepanton, 2006). Female sex tourists usually are developing sexual relations with local men commonly known as 'beach boys'. Beach boys are making these women believe that they are attractive and truly loved. Usually beach boys have jobs related to tourism such as tour guide, bar tenders etc. Research shows that female tourists are not paying to sex with money but they are using material goods such as clothes, electrical equipment. For most of the beach boys it is the main reason why they are engaging in sex with female tourists. Moreover, most of the female sex workers who are having sexual relations with male tourists relay on prostitution as the easiest and for some of them the only way to make money (Herold et al, 2001).

Falasz noted that there is strong association between sex tourism and position or commercial sex. However, the sexual relationship between female tourists and beach boys are usually referred to 'romance tourism' instead of sex tourism. This is because most of them are looking for long relationship which includes physical and emotional involvement. On the other hand, researchers showed that the motivations of sex tourists are far more complex and can by multiple. The study conducted by Herold et al (2001) of female tourists in Caribbean demonstrated that some of they were interested purely in sex, others were looking for romance and some others were looking for both - sex and romance.

Sex tourism is not easy to define as it has 'there is no single paradigm of sex tourism but, many'. There are definitions claiming that sex tourists are someone who goes for holidays purely for the purpose of having sex. For some people, sex tourism means sex with prostitute, when others claiming that everyone 'having sexual intercourse while away from home' can be classified as sex tourist (Ryan, 2001). Statistics shown almost 1/4 of British men and 1/7 of British women has more than one sexual partner while holidays in Ibiza (Bellis, 2004). Can young individual engaging in casual sex at holidays be classified as sex tourists? Or this definition is only reserved for people going for holidays for the purpose of paid sex? Although, there is no clear definition of sex tourism and sex tourists, there is no doubt that can be seen anywhere in the world - especially in developing countries.

Overall, Falasz examined the good range of resources; however author could expand the discussion by looking at the females sex/romance tourists. Despite that paper was engaging and displayed interesting arguments on this controversial topic.

References:
Bellis, M.A., Hughes, K., Thomson, R., Bennet, A., (2004) Sexual behaviour of young people in international tourist resorts. Sexually Transmitted Infections. 80 (1), pp. 43-53.

Herold, E., Garcia, R., DeMoya, T. (2001) Female Tourist and Beach Boys: Romance or Sex Tourism? Annals of Tourism Research, 28 (4) pp. 978-997

Ryan, C. (2001) Sex Tourism. In: Douglas, N., Douglas, N., Derrett, R. , eds. Special Interest Tourism. Brisbane: Wiley, pp. 385-406.

Tepanton, Y. (2006) Exploring the Minds of Sex Tourists: The Psychological Motivation of Liminal People. Virginia: Polytechnic Institute and State University