×
Home
2024 Conference
All Conferences
Instructions
TSVC | Tourism Students Virtual Conference

Sex Tourism in Cambodia

Sex Tourism in Cambodia
Author: Alex Beard
2 Commentries
Conference Paper
Abstract
Many of the countries in the third world are getting involved in tourism industry, in order to develop local economy and increase employment opportunities for its local residents. The tourism industry was the first to try and combat the poor quality of life that the third world was facing. The type of tourism that did this was sex tourism, whereby the role of women is to entertain the tourists and or the local people with sexual pleasures. Thus sex tourism in one of the most important topics in tourism literature. This paper will introduce the general view on the sex tourism industry, covering the importance of prostitution as a mean for economical development in Third World countries. Also will look at Cambodia as an example of how sex tourism has caused major problems for them as a country and destination.

Key words: Sex Tourism, prostitution, Cambodia

Sex tourism in one of the most emotive and sensationalised issues in the study of tourism (Hall 1996: 265). Although it exists all over the world, sex tourism is generally said to be associated with the Western society, usually undertaken by males who tend to exploit residents in Third World countries. Countries in the developing world try to promote tourism as the main generator of foreign currency, but because of lack of governmental control and necessary investment tools, tourism leads to number of serious problems and one of them is prostitution and sex tourism.

Usually sex tourism in the developing countries suggests, the image of men, often older and in less than perfect shape, travelling for sexual pleasure generally not available in their home country for at least the same price (O'Connell, Davidson 1996). Therefore sex tourism creates a location for men to have somewhat of a overriding position over women. The exchange of money for sexual activity is commonly considered the most important characteristic of prostitute-customer relationships and, therefore, of prostitute-sex tourist relationships. Prostitutes contribute sexual services, mainly for men, but they also contribute to the global production of the tourism industry. Generally sex tourism is seen as immoral and a exploitative industry, because women have to prostitute themselves in order to sell their bodies in ways they cannot refuse, as their livelihood depends upon it. However sex tourism is an important means of achieving a variety of positive goals, including combating poverty in developing countries. Some women enter the sex industry just because they think it is better-paid work in local or foreign country and they think by doing it they will help better the lives of their family. Children also take part in sex tourism and the age at which they start is unreal. Therefore it should be noted, that child prostitution provides us with a number of negative consequences such as abuse, exploitation, unwanted pregnancies and sexual transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS should be related to tourism industry as a result.
The sex tourism industries are seen to be negative and that is often a misleading statement as sex is a natural part of a person's life and can be a happy thing, but the sex tourism industry is known to have a dark side and thus, this is the side that academics tend to focus on more.

Cambodia

Majority of academics studies have covered the relationship between sex industry and tourism sector in South-East Asian countries and Cambodia is no exception. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries and in addition to this it has the lowest standard of health. This is due to the long decades of civil war that they had faced, which then had damaging effects on the economy and social and moral infrastructure. 'The society is devitalised to such an extent that development seems to be impossible.' (Bauer, & McKercher; 2003)

Prostitution in Cambodia is illegal but is huge in size. Figures and statistics show us that there is no official number of how many sex workers there are in Cambodia, but it can vary from 50,000 up to 500,000. This figure would then mean that around 8% of the female population is working in the sex industry.

What's more tourism, as a means for economic development 'has in turn, facilitated prostitution.' (Lin: 1998) Sex tourism can be seen from two sides - political and ethical. On one hand we can assume that enhancing the body as a sexual tool could be a good thing and that we should only control those aspects of it that are illegal or disregarding human rights. On the other hand we supposedly cannot recognise the problems of sex industry, such as paedophilia, trafficking, sexual abuse and violence, and of course the spread of HIV/AIDS worldwide, although the point is that people do not want to believe that it is happening. If we were to end the sexual exploitation, trafficking and prostitution then this will provide a new chapter in building legal sexual relationships between humans, however sex trade is the oldest profession and to achieve this will take a much longer time. If new laws and regulations were introduced then maybe this could be the start of the new beginning.

References

Bauer, T. G & McKercher, B (2003) Sex and Tourism; Journeys of Romance, Love and Lust. Haworth, New York. Pg 181.

Lin, L. L (1998) The Sex Sector: The economic & social bases of prostitution in South-East Asia, International Labour Office, Geneva.

O'Connell Davidson, J (1996) Sex Tourism in Cuba. Race & Class. Vol 38. Issue 1. Pg 39-48.
Sex Tourism is everywhere
Author: Buhle Ndebele

Your discussion paper is well written and interesting to read. It introduces the general view on the sex tourism industry, covering the importance of prostitution as a mean for economical development in Third World countries. Also it looks at Cambodia as an example of how sex tourism has caused major problems for them as a country and destination. I have chosen your paper because my topic was similar to yours, where my research was based on female sex Tourist, and Gender differences in sex tourist. You have managed to follow the guidelines of the assignment well and have presented a great paper with lots of important information. The way you have dealt with not only sex tourism and its importance to the tourism market but also with the dangers of sex it is very good, and the paper attaches the issues HIV and Aids.
The discussion paper begins with a detailed view into the scale of how the third world is becoming more with sex tourism specifically, on holidays. This bears extreme relevance when considering the nature of the remainder of your paper, especially when considering the level of the disease in the third world countries. I certainly agree that the high levels of poverty and law income, along with the willing of pleasuring most women are now putting themselves out there for sex in order to provide for their families. The tourism industry was the first to try and combat the poor quality of life that the third world was facing. The type of tourism that did this was sex tourism, whereby the role of women is to entertain the tourists and or the local people with sexual pleasures.


Usually sex tourism in the developing countries suggests, the image of men, often older and in less than perfect shape, travelling for sexual pleasure generally not available in their home country for at least the same price (Davidson 1996). The exchange of money for sexual activity is commonly considered the most important characteristic of prostitute customer relationships and, therefore, of prostitute-sex tourist relationships. Prostitutes contribute sexual services, mainly for men, but they also contribute to the global production of the tourism industry. Generally sex tourism is seen as immoral and exploitative industry.

However sex tourism is an important means of achieving a variety of positive goals, including combating poverty in developing countries. Some women enter the sex industry just because they think it is better-paid work in local or foreign country and they think by doing it they will help better the lives of their family. Children also take part in sex tourism and the age at which they start is unreal. Therefore it should be noted, that child prostitution provides us with a number of negative consequences such as abuse, exploitation, unwanted pregnancies and sexual transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS should be related to tourism industry as a result.( Lin: 1998)


References
O'Connell Davidson, J (1996) Sex Tourism in Cuba. Race & Class. Vol 38. Issue 1. Pg 39-48.
Lin, L. L (1998) The Sex Sector: The economic & social bases of prostitution in South-East Asia, International Labour Office, Geneva.
Cambodia - Culture or Sex?
Author: Patricia Mutter
Buddhist temples, rich vegetation and different curry aromas- these attributes come in my mind when I hear this destination. Usually Sex Tourism is associated with countries like Thailand, Caribbean and other third world countries. I personally never thought about Cambodia in this way which made this paper interesting to comment on. Furthermore it is a topic with a high amount of up to date relevance which led me to investigate it a step further.

This paper raises many good points regarding Sex tourism in an economic relevance for third world destinations. Furthermore it is written in a qualitative style and like mentioned above I like the idea to present another example of a sex tourism destination. I agree that the lack of governmental control and investment tools encourage the growth of sex tourism.

You have chosen a variety of literature with reliable sources. Dividing the paper in logically chapter gave the reader a better overview and understanding of the topic. In the first abstract you gave a general overview about the topic. Explaining the Sex tourism industry in the following chapter was a good introduction to the last chapter in which you presented a praxis example.
Sex tourism exists over the world especially in third world countries. Like you have mentioned in your conference paper it is a significant term for that people because of their liminality of money as well as their lack of education (Ryan and Hall, 2001; 8).
Besides the motivations of sex tourists as well as the characteristics are explained in a good way. I would like to add at this stage that the sex industry presents the tourists "spectacle" and sexual adventure (Hanna et al, 1998; 4).

It is proved that the majority of sex tourists come from the western society. Women offer sex services for money and become exploited. Western men profit from the low price level of these services. A thought which led me to research further was to figure out if the low price is the own or major motivation for them to travel. Seabrook (1996) claims that travelling for sex implies people that they can do what they want with foreigners which are not possible at home. Furthermore, women (Thai women) evoke a special interest for western men because of their "tenderness".

I agree with you that these women see this kind of business as a chance to improve their life style. Consequently, a variety of negative issues occur like increasing rates of HIV infections, unwanted pregnancies and children prostitution. I would like to add at this stage that the ministry of tourism has established guidelines and prohibitions (fairunterwegs org; 1994) which not allow people to dance naked on the streets and in bars to enable more security for the people (ethical side) as well as to maintain a good image to increase the general tourism sector (political side).

Finally, this conference paper has provided an amount of interesting information. Furthermore it was well structured and written in a good understanding way. As I have already mentioned this topic has encouraged me to investigate it a step further.

References

Seabrook (1996) Travels in the skin trade: Tourism and the Sex industry, London: Pluto Press p. 5

Ryan, C. and Hall, M. (2001) Sex Tourism: Marginal people and liminalities, London: Routledge p. 8

fairunterwegs org (1994) cambodia against prostitution and sex tourism (online). Accessed April 5 2010 at http://www.fairunterwegs.org/laender/kambodscha/aktuelles/article/kambodscha-im-kampf-gegen-prostitution-und-sextourismus.html?cHash=5bcd9158eb