North Africa Is the Latest Hub for UK Sex Tourism

Some places have a reputation for sex: Thailand, Amsterdam, and Prague are renowned holiday destinations among those seeking a good time. But rising costs in the West are nudging some British men off the beaten track. Now, a community has formed for British men to swap tips and tricks about the best places to find sex across North Africa. We spoke to sex workers in North Africa to hear their experiences with British men travelling across the continent for sex.

UKPunting is an online forum dedicated to helping “Punters,” AKA buyers of sex, through a network of reviews, advice, and information. Most of the website is behind a paywall that can only be accessed through a yearly Bitcoin fee. There, alongside regional reviews for sexual services across the United Kingdom, is a “worldwide” section dedicated to punting abroad. While Asia has long been a favourite for those seeking to buy sex, there are over 10,000 posts in the ‘Africa’ section, focusing on countries like Ghana, Gambia, Kenya, and Morocco. 

Discussion topics varied throughout the forum, but men were eager to swap stories about hotels suitable for bringing girls back to their rooms, prices for sex, and even advice on acquiring sex while you are on holiday with your wife. As one British punter put it, in a review of a recent trip: “The Gambia is a hidden paradise in the punting world… I’m in my early sixties, overweight and certainly not good-looking. However, it is easy to meet both local girls and the many prossies.”

Back home, members of UKPunting often also use websites like adultwork.com to find sex work. Mark, a 45-year-old electrician from London whose name has been changed to protect his privacy, has used UKPunting to find sex in the UK and abroad. “Buying sex is a risky business; you never know who you are going to meet or if you are going to get scammed,” he explained. “The site lets us help verify the working girls we want to pay and ensure their profiles are accurate. Lots of the girls actually appreciate a good review on UKPunting – it sends lots and lots of business their way.”

While in other continents, punters mostly use popular mobile dating apps like Tinder. Many of the members draw distinctions in their comments between genuine sex workers and “civilians”, as this forum post illustrates: “I’ve just returned from a five-night trip where I had my wicked way with eight willing victims, aged from 23 to 37, only one of us was an out prostitute. The others were all local girls, keen to befriend white European holiday maker and very obliging.” Another user remarked: “You don’t need to worry about what bar to go to, or whether they are a working girl or not….I even got offered a blowjob on the juice if I bought one off the lady on the beach!” 

When I asked Mark how using UKPunting might help benefit sex workers living in Africa in countries like Ghana and Gambia, he became a little more tight-lipped. “If someone gave a great review, it would encourage others to come back.” When I asked about the likelihood of that actually happening, he was unsure. When I further asked how fellow punters might trace the same girl they met on Tinder, especially when she is not publicly advertising services, he told me he could not answer. 

Mike, a 42-year-old mechanical engineer from Dorset whose name has also been changed to protect his privacy, uses UKPunting locally and to find sex abroad when he’s working away. “The problem with buying sex is that it becomes like a habit, but it’s also a physical need,” he said. “People need touch. People need intimacy. But if you can’t afford to meet sex workers in England regularly, going abroad seems to be a good option for some.”

Alongside sharing information, many men bragged about their ability to get more for their money. As one man noted: “All were voluntarily rewarded with meals, drinks, or in one case, the equivalent of £15 for a large bag of rice for her family….My total outlay was a fraction of what similar entertainment would cost in England.” 

Jodie is a 36-year-old sex worker now based in London – her name has been changed to protect her privacy. She got started supplementing her income with sex at the age of 18 in her hometown of Kumasi, Ghana, and explained the differences between how men found sexual services across the African continent. “You don’t need to use Adultwork in Ghana,” she said. “There are many prostitutes in Ghana, where I was working. Some women are so desperate to meet foreign men because they are in poverty or they need it for their families. But other women also work a day job, just like I did. I had a job at a bar while sleeping with foreign tourists to top up my wages. It’s normal there.”

For punters, sex tourism in North Africa is partly an economic decision: They want to pay less for sex than they currently can in the UK. But we now know the true cost across the continent is steep. 

According to Chantelle Lunt, a lecturer and writer specialising in racial studies and criminology, “While there are many parts of the African continent that are affluent, modern and urbanised, many places in North Africa are recovering from exploitation from the West, which includes the exploitation from Western tourists who travel abroad for cheaper sex. The fact that some of the people visited by British men for sex are not sex workers but simply people willing to engage in sexual activity for cash just speaks to the struggle these people face.”

Omari, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy, is a 27-year-old sex worker who operates from hotels and apartments in the Gambia. When I asked what she thought about the standards British men might have for sex workers in her country compared to their homes, she laughed: “We know they get more for their money, because the British pound is worth more here!” 

While Omari regularly sleeps with British men for money, she said the trade does bring its own social issues. Partly, it’s in the way it blurs the lines for women between prostitution and casual sex with foreign British men. And partly, it’s because many local men – hotel workers, hospitality managers and taxi drivers – help perpetuate the sex trade as they work on a commission basis for punters and sex workers alike. “Nobody has respect for women in the end,” she said. “Not the ones around you who are finding you the foreign men, or driving you to the foreign men. Everyone sees the money, but you are the ones who sleep with them.”