The Czechs sex trade is stagnating and bordellos are desperate to entice new clients; but with Czechs now top clients, the trade is moving elsewhere.
In the 1990s, Prague become a famous destination for stag parties and sex tourists, and a
favored film location for shooting porno. Today, the side streets of Wenceslas Square are still lined with bordellos, but the prostitution trade is now steadily moving into the living rooms of private residential apartments (known as privaty) to cater to
Czech clients, says the head of a non-profit group that aims to protect women in the sex trade.
Recently, there is a new phenomenon. In place of erotic clubs, there has been a rise in the number of large privaty, apartments with many rooms,
which have their own managers. They offer discreet non-stop service, so the client can zip in for example during his lunch break, Marketa Malinova, manager of Bliss without Risk, told the daily Mlada fronta Dnes.
Although organized
prostitution is technically illegal in the Czech Republic, brothels operate freely throughout the country and women advertize their sexual services openly, and explicitly, without hiding behind classic fronts like massage parlors or the offer of
companionship. According to the Czech Ministry of the Interior, there are over 860 brothels in the Czech Republic, of which 200 are in Prague.
But Malinova says the sex industry is stagnating, and the bordellos have been compelled to come
up with gimmicks to entice new clients and ensure return visits, including offering happy hours, loyalty discount cards and a wide range of massages.
Brothels that cater to day tourists from Austria and Germany can still be found in border towns
and along motorways, such as the infamous E-55. According to Wikipedia, there are over 200 websites for prostitution services in the Czech Republic, up from 45 in 1997, which enable sex tourists to book their travel and appointments to buy sex acts
before they leave home.
