The foyer in Berlin's biggest brothel sports beer flagons shaped like soccer
balls and its big screen theater showed live World Cup matches, but for all the
anticipation, the tournament has not led to the huge spike in business the
German sex industry had hoped for.
People walk in the
famous red light district Reeperbahn in the northern German town of
Hamburg.[file photo] |
The news may come as a relief for those who fretted increased demand could
lead to more trafficking of women forced into prostitution, and it hasn't been
received all that badly at the brothels either.
Artemis, which opened in September near Berlin's Olympic stadium with an eye
on World Cup business, had been expecting as many as 500 customers per day. The
actual number of men has been about half that. Still, the business has been
steady and, more importantly, none of the fears of soccer hooligans descending
upon them has come to pass either.
"We're really happy," said manager Vanessa, who would only give her first
name. "There was no stress here,all soft and easy, thank God,though it's not
over yet."
Germany had predicted an influx of 1 million visitors for the soccer
tournament. By the time the World Cup ends on Sunday, however, the German Center
for Tourism now says the total number will reach double that.
The tourists, however, appear to have their minds more on soccer than sex.
"The hoped-for increase in business didn't happen," said Cologne police
spokesman Burkhard Jahn. He said the city saw no noticeable increase in
prostitutes, and that brothels were reporting "that the women were all bored."
Many have suggested that soccer's group atmosphere, whether in playing the
game or celebrating or commiserating, does not translate well to the typically
furtive nature of the sex trade.
"Football and beer go well together," Jahn said. "Football and prostitution
are apparently not as great a combination."
Though there have been reports of lines out the doors of some bordellos,
there have been others claiming scores of empty beds. The truth seems somewhere
in between, said Ulrike Helwerth, of the National Council of German Women's
Organizations.
"We've heard both, some bordellos say it's been really good and others say
it's been really slack," Helwerth said. "There's all things in every direction
but in any case, there's no evidence it's way up anywhere."
