Female sex tourism is sex tourism by women who travel intending to engage in sexual activities with one or more locals, including male sex workers. Female sex tourists may seek aspects of the sexual relationship not typically shared by male sex tourists, such as perceived romance and intimacy. Female sex tourism occurs in diverse regions of the world.
Africa, the Caribbean, and southern Europe appear to be preferred destinations for female sex tourists, but some other regions with many unemployed or underemployed locals are also becoming popular.
A study found that Australian female sex tourists were more likely to seek female prostitutes than male prostitutes. Some women involved with sex tourism do not use barrier contraceptives during the majority of their visit, leaving them and those they have sex with unprotected against STIs. There is an ongoing debate on terminology regarding female sex tourism. Pruitt and LaFont argue that the term female sex tourism is not representative of the relationship that female tourists have with local men.
They argue that female sex tourism oversimplifies the motives of these women and that romance tourism explains the complex nature of what these women are engaging themselves in while involved in romance tours.
Scholars such as Klaus de Albuquerque counter that the term romance tourism overcomplicates what the motives of sex tourists are. Through his research, he concludes that the majority of female sex tourists are solely touring for physical encounters and not romance. He also says that the "tourist and beach boys may define their relationships as one of romance, [but] in reality, the relationship is one of prostitution ".
