Female sex tourism in Jamaica: An assessment of perceptions

Much has been said about tourist sexual behavior in the Global South. These studies range from those who view men's and women's sexual sojourn as distinctly different activities (sex versus romance tourism respectively) to those who consider sex and romance tourism as independent of sexed and gendered bodies. This work attempts to assess this critical aspect of tourism in Jamaica. Through data collection in two phases and using mixed methodology, the study seeks to assess the perception of local hotel workers and female tourists to the issue of sex and romance tourism. Findings indicate that while male and female hotel workers tend to view men as searching for sex and women for romance, female tourists are largely discrediting the perception that men and women seek disntictly different things while on vacation. The paper argues that there is therefore need to shift the paradigm of sex tourism research to include a wider range of perceptions. The implications for destination marketing are then discussed.