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‘If you don’t have money to go to Europe by boat, you try to get there by starting a relationship with a tourist’: Sex tourism plagues Gambia (english.elpais.com)

submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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Economic inequality is driving European tourists to the African country who come seeking sun, but also sex. Its government’s plans to attract ‘quality tourism’ have failed to take off

“We’re going to take a walk on the beach,” shouts a Dutch woman, smiling widely before she disappears among the dunes, kissing a Gambian who appears to be 30 years her minor. Her party, composed of three other Dutch tourists and three young locals with dreadlocks, seem neither surprised nor bothered.

Staff at Justice, a café-restaurant with an open patio situated alongside a dirt road near the coastal town of Serakunda, watch the scene in silence. The night security guard at the nearby Bamboo Garden hotel is more talkative. “It hurts me to see our brothers and sisters being exploited,” he says. Every evening, he sees Dutch, British and German tourists leave their room alone, only to return later that night with a Gambian man or woman. “But what can we do?” the caretaker asks with a shrug.

Officially, visitors’ guests are not allowed to sleep at the hotel, but if tourists slip some money to the receptionist, they turn a blind eye. In the majority of cases, their guests leave that night. “But sometimes, girls come to the front desk crying,” the guard says, sighing. And although the girls say that they’ve been treated rudely, or worse, they hardly ever call the police. “The hotel’s customers pay them not to talk, and it’s over. It doesn’t feel good, but we have to be on our customers’ side. If we aren’t, they’ll fire us,” says the guard.

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[-] khannie@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Thailand has worked really really hard to shed that international image. I feel sorry for them. It's one of my favourite places in the world. They don't deserve it, though they may once have.

this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2024

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