Sex Work, Migration and Tourism

More and more people are travelling abroad or within their own country to join family, find work or simply go on holiday. The 2011 census shows that South Africa is similar to other parts of the world, with foreign nationals making up 3.3% of the South African population (1.7 million people) and millions of South Africans living outside the province where they were born.

South African tourism has been booming since the beginning of the century, with the number of foreign arrivals increasing from 6 million in 2000 to over 15 million in 2013. This fact sheet provides information on the links between migration, tourism and sex work – particularly in relation to the decriminalisation of sex work – and clears up some common misunderstandings.