I was recently told that the biggest growth industry in the Dominican Republic is gay sex tourism, and that the Dominican Republic's biggest export is prostitutes. Certainly sex tourism of all types has moved out of the all enclusive beach resorts, and has moved into Santo Domingo. Everytime I walk round the historic colonial zone I pass bars with fat balding white tourists, apparently mainly Germans, drinking and holding hands with stunning local 18 year olds. Neither of them speaks much of the other's language, nor probably do they have an interest in deep and meaningful conversation. The stereotypes are all there. I have also noticed a number of middle aged white ladies, who are apparently all Canadian, walking around with local 20 year old guys.

Don't get me wrong, there are many expats here who meet a girl and have a relationship that is more than financial. Although there are plenty of girls known as "buscavidas", or looking-for-a-life, more interested in the colour of their man's passport than his personality, there are certainly lots of happy trans-national families here. However, there remains a common assumption that a foreigner travelling on their own must be looking for a more intimate experience of local culture.

The sex tourism thing is a funny one. There is quite a specific geography to it, as the different villages around the different beach resorts specialise in different types of relationship. If you are in the know, you arrange your holiday at one specific hotel if you are a man looking for a stunning younger lady, another if you are a lady after a man, a man after a man, or woman after a woman (although I have been told plenty about the other three types, I am yet to hear of stories of international lesbian sex tourism. I am also aware that those last four words of that sentance may bring some interesting and probably soon to be disappointed google traffic in the way of this blog). There is undoubtably a geography PhD to be written on the subject, though mine is not going to be it.

Thinking about it, the sex tourism business is probably the Dominican industry most in tune with customer needs, and as any business entrepreneur will tell you, that is why it is the most succesful.



Some of you were probably waiting to see if I would post on this subject.