What is a tourist information adviser to do? Sheryl Oszinsky, manager of the Cape Town tourist bureau, has reacted to a regular influx of public enquiries about where to find prostitutes by suggesting that the world's oldest industry should be decriminalised and regulated.
Tourists want this "service", she says; safe sex is a big issue and, if prostitution wasn't illegal, she would be able to give her customers a list of prostitutes with licences and clean medical records.
"Sex tourism is not going to go away," says Oszinsky. "If we can regulate it we can also help ensure the safety of the tourist and benefit from taxes." Regulating prostitution could provide South Africa with a "unique selling point" as a safe-sex holiday destination on a continent where Aids is, as Oszinsky puts it, "out of control".
There is no doubt that prostitution and travel have always been connected. But has it now got to the stage where many tourist informa tion bureaus are acting almost as prostitution agencies?
Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat) in Cape Town supports the decriminalisation of the adult sex industry in South Africa and believes policy-making needs to involve all sectors of society, government departments and the tourism industry.
However Jill Sloan, Sweat's director, is doubtful whether decriminalisation alone will significantly improve the lives of sex workers. As most prostitutes enter the sex industry between the ages of 13 and 17, this is not just a debate about adult prostitution, but child prostitution and the main reason behind that - poverty - will not be overcome by legalising the activities of adult workers.
"The child is often the breadwinner in families where adults have died or are ill with Aids," says Sloan. "Sex work, theft and drug trafficking are among the few options that they have access to." Without sufficient funds dedicated to supporting Aids orphans in South Africa, children are likely to continue going into prostitution, she says.
So should tourist information authorities get involved in such a complex subject? The answer is probably yes, according to most workers in the field, but perhaps not to the extent of championing legalisation.
"Teenagers as young as 14 are forced to work in sex clubs in Cape Town and elsewhere," says Patrick Solomons, director of Molo Songololo, a child rights organisation in South Africa. "To support the regulation or semi-regulation of sex work, the Cape Town Tourist Authority would in fact be supporting the commercial sexual exploitation of men, women and children."
It is hoped that a national conference on prostitution this year will help South Africa find some solutions and mobilise funds. Reform of the law to include extra-territorial jurisdiction is also in the pipeline. This makes it possible for someone found guilty of abusing children while away from home to be prosecuted in their own country, a law now operational in 24 countries.
In January, Kenneth Biden was jailed for three years for five assaults on girls staying in his holiday camp in France, the first successful British extra-territorial case. Campaigners such as End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking (Ecpat) still have a job to do, however, and they are urging the government to amend the Register of Sex Offenders, which does not require child abusers to register when they travel abroad.
How best to deal with prostitution is, of course, a global issue. At a sex workers' conference in Calcutta, some Indian delegates called for legalisation, arguing that it would give them dignity and reduce exploitation. Under-age prostitution could also be stopped through a self-regulatory board that would only issue licences to adults, they said.
But others were doubtful, fearing legalisation would lead to an increase in trafficking of women and empower pimps. Furthermore, fake affidavits could easily falsify young girls' ages.
The Netherlands has set up "tolerance zones" - designated areas where prostitutes can work set hours in good conditions. Pimps are barred, sex workers are safer and they can report criminal offences committed against them. However, despite state brothels being operational since 1992, only 12% of known prostitutes work in them.
The Netherlands and Germany, where prostitution is also legal, have the highest incidence of immigrant sex workers in Europe, including children, who obviously work un-registered.
De-criminalisation may have improved life for some sex workers, while opening the door for the exploitation of others. There will, of course, always be a market for sex workers who can undercut the going rate of licensed workers. But those offering a cheaper service, without recourse to protection, will inevitably be the poorest and most vulnerable people. And these will include children.
• Campaign to End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking (Ecpat), tel: 020-7501 8927
Email: ecpat@antislavery.org
