O'key..<ggg>
Soccer Tournament Bad for Sex Business
Updated: Fri, Jun 16 08:09 AM EDT
ROTTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands may be gripped by Euro 2000 fever but the country's prostitutes can't wait for the tournament to end, Dutch news agency ANP reported Thursday.
The European soccer championship has meant potential customers are either glued to the television, in bars or at the stadiums instead of in brothels, escort clubs and massage parlors. "In our club, footballers and ladies appear to compete against each other, and the men seem to prefer footballers," the manageress of the Kamasutra in Kerkrade said.
In Amsterdam's red light district, business was no busier than normal. Mariska Majoor of the Prostitutes Information Center (PIC) said the influx of supporters had replaced the normal visitors and tourists.
"We are seeing many people wearing the shirts of their country," she said, adding most were British -- not the most popular nation among prostitutes.
"They are a either a pain in the backside or too drunk to perform," Majoor said.
For the window sex trade in The Hague, Euro 2000 is a "heavy blow," a spokesman for the town's brothel keepers said.
"It's enormously quiet during the matches. After that, customers begin to drift in, but then we have to close.
The spokesman said around half of The Hague's prostitutes had moved their business to the towns where Euro 2000 matches are taking place.
Others worked only in the afternoons or had been forced to take a holiday during the three-week tournament.
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