San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, August 19, 2001
Ulysses Torassa

Being away from home, away from normal social constraints, in a relaxed, sometimes hedonistic atmosphere, there's a decent chance that you may give in to normal urges. And a chance you may forget that with the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases - both here and abroad - casual, intimate encounters are risky.

"People do go away on vacation to find new things, do new things, and the idea of having sexual encounters is on a certain proportion of people's minds, " said Dr. David Freedman, who runs the travel medicine clinic at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

At a recent international conference on travel medicine, Freedman presented the results of a new study that, for the first time, looked at the overseas sexual habits of Americans.

It's hard to draw strong conclusions because the number of people questioned was so low, but the study found that Americans were more likely than other travelers to have sex with people they met on the road, and that a troubling percentage of all travelers did not take precautions to prevent the transmission of diseases.

Using a questionnaire handed out at the international departure lounge at the airport in Lima, Peru, Freedman's study found that 15 percent of Americans - compared to a little over 10 percent of those from Britain, France and other countries - said they had a new sexual partner during their visit. And only a little over half consistently used condoms.

This worries Freedman, who said it appears that it made no difference whether people were counselled ahead of time about sexual risks on the road.

Frequently - but not surprisingly - alcohol was involved, he said.

"You may pack your condoms in your suitcase, but you go out and have a few drinks and even if you have the condom somewhere nearby you may not get around to using it," he said.

The risks range from incurable diseases like HIV, herpes and hepatitis to illnesses like chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis that are treatable, but that can lead to scarring and infertility.

Some sexually transmitted diseases that are prevalent overseas, such as lympho granuloma venereum (LGV) and donovanosis, are hardly known in the United States and may escape detection by domestic doctors.

Freedman said his study is the first of its kind of the overseas sexual habits of Americans. There have been surveys of European and Australian travelers, including those who go abroad specifically to have sex.

The latest study was based on questionnaires filled out by 442 foreigners in the Lima airport, 145 of whom were Americans. The mean age of travelers was 27.6 years old, meaning that half were younger, half older.

Overall, 12 percent of foreign visitors surveyed said they found a new sexual partner while they were in Peru, which is consistent with, but on the low side of, past surveys of other destinations, Freedman said. That's probably because Peru isn't a sex tourism destination like Thailand, Bali or parts of the former Soviet Union. And it doesn't host much business travel. People who are away on business often stay longer and have a higher incidence of new sexual partners than the average tourist, Freedman said.

Furthermore, Peru doesn't lure visitors with come-hither advertisements.

"A lot of vacation resorts are marketed that way," Freedman said. "They have scantily clad members of the opposite sex in bikinis and they try to push that aspect of things."

What did most of the sexually active travelers have in common? They were usually men, frequently bisexual, and had stayed longer than 30 days, according to the survey.

About a third of those who had sex did so with fellow travelers and 7 percent reported using prostitutes. But the highest percentage - more than two thirds - had sex with local residents other than prostitutes. (The percentages add up to more than 100 because some respondents had sex with more than one person.)

Freedman said it's not uncommon, especially in underdeveloped countries, to run into local people eager to have sex with visitors from wealthier nations. It may be because they hope to find someone to marry, or it may be they just want someone to spend money on them, Freedman said.

People who are part of the tourism infrastructure may be especially likely to hook up with visitors. Freedman said a study of tourism industry workers at a beach resort in the south of England found that 93 percent had a new sex partner in the previous year; 75 percent had a least four sex partners during that year, and that the majority of those partners were tourists.

Freedman said one theory to explain the high rate is that tourism work attracts "people persons," who like lots of interaction - including sexual encounters.

So enjoy the new surroundings, new people and new experiences when you're away from home - just keep your wits about you.
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