Editing Sex tourism (section)

== Demographics ==
Demographics include: female sex tourism (women seeking men), men seeking men, adults seeking children, and men seeking women.<ref name="Lovelock" /> Sex tourists generally come from [[Western world]] countries but they may also come from other countries as well. The most common destinations for these sex tourists is to visit less economically developed nations in Asia, such as: [[Thailand]], the [[Philippines]], [[Vietnam]], [[Cambodia]], [[Nepal]], [[Gambia]], as well as countries in Central and South America like [[Mexico]] or [[Brazil]].<ref name="UN Global Report Trafficking" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=Mobility, sexuality and AIDS |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-86914-7 |editor-last=Aggleton |editor-first=Peter |series=Sexuality, culture and health series |location=London New York |editor-last2=Haour-Knipe |editor-first2=Mary |editor-last3=Thomas |editor-first3=Felicity}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2004-07-07 |title=European sex tourists flock to the Gambia {{!}} CABI News |url=https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/do/10.5555/collection-news-5506 |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=News |language=en }}</ref>

A study conducted by the non-profit public charity [[ProCon.org|ProCon]], revealed the percentage of men who had paid for sex at least once in their lives between 1994 and 2010. It found the highest rates were located in Cambodia, where 59–80% of men had paid for sex at least once. Thailand was a close second with an estimated 75% of men, followed by Italy at 16.7–45%, Spain at 27–39%, Japan at 37%, the Netherlands at 13.5–21.6%, and the United States 15.0–20.0%.<ref name="ProCon">{{cite web|title=Percentage of Men (by Country) Who Paid for Sex at Least Once: The Johns Chart|url=http://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004119|publisher=ProCon|access-date=29 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305122229/https://prostitution.procon.org/percentage-of-men-by-country-who-paid-for-sex-at-least-once-the-johns-chart/ |archive-date=2022-03-05 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Challenges in gathering data has made it hard to find out the exact number of people who work in the sex tourism industry. Estimates show 24.9 million victims that are trapped in [[modern-day slavery]], 4.8 million (about 19%) were sexually exploited.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Human Trafficking by the Numbers|url=https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/human-trafficking-numbers|access-date=2021-05-11|website=Human Rights First|language=en|archive-date=7 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507064607/https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/human-trafficking-numbers|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is estimated that about 21% of the total victims of commercial sexual exploitation are children,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Trafficking in Persons|url=https://www.unodc.org/unodc/data-and-analysis/glotip.html|access-date=2021-05-11|website=United Nations : Office on Drugs and Crime|language=en}}</ref> with the [[United States Department of State|US Department of State]] estimating that over one million children are trafficked for sex throughout the world. The sex tourism industry often preys on those that are the most vulnerable, potentially explaining why children and women are more likely to be forced into the industry.<ref name=":3">{{Citation|title=Paradigms of sex tourism|date=2005-07-08|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203991763-7|work=Sex Tourism|pages=65–86|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9780203991763-7|isbn=978-0-203-99176-3|access-date=2021-05-11}}</ref>