How Idling Street Prostitutes Show the Economic Risks of Reliance on International Tourism

The main square of the Cartagena old Town is beautifully lit up at night.  Against the background of illuminated clock towers, colonial buildings, and the defensive walls, restaurants, bars, and night clubs throng with revelers from around the world, taking in the beauty of the 16th century architecture over a cold beer or two.  Some walk around the neighborhood, seemingly traveling to the past when the city was the thriving main port of the mighty Spanish Empire in the America's.

During those little walks through the main square and the nearby streets, there is one sight that the tourists simply cannot avoid.  Dozens of prostitutes, wearing skintight one piece fit for nightclubs, throng the streets.  Some actively pace around the neighborhood, approaching males whenever possible.  Others, tired of walking, strike up conversations with other prostitutes in small groups, only occasionally interrupting the laughter filled conversations when they meet the eyes of potential customers.

The prostitutes, at least from my experience meeting many in many different countries across the world, are probably the best that can be found anywhere.  A surprisingly multiracial group, girls, of practically every shade of skin color from pale white to uncompromising dark, make the groups of "workers."  But all inevitably display beautiful physique, with their low-cut minidresses revealing ample cleavage and long model-like legs.  It is unsurprising that they draw the attention of so many just by standing around.

But on this Wednesday night, the crowds are unusually thin.  The main square at night, finally approachable after hours of hot, humid, excessively sunny weather that marks the day, is still half empty, with prostitutes perhaps making up half of the population at any given time.  Even among the non-prostitutes, many are locals, with older guys and even families hanging out.  Clearly, they are not the target customers of the prostitutes that are progressively getting bored as the night lounges on.

Even the bars and nightclubs that formed the bulk of the establishments in the area are relatively devoid of people.  With high prices (by local standards), these tourist-catered establishments cannot fool resourceful locals who can find much better valued places to have fun.  For an area, and a population, so dependent on foreign tourist traffic to make a living, the emptiness of the main square, in the midst of the high tourist season, when people are taking their summer/winter breaks, is concerning.

Of course, the view at that particular Wednesday night might be an exception rather than the rule.  The fact that the past Wednesday was July 5th, right after the American Independence Day, means that all the Americans who inundated the area in the past few days left the country with no immediate replacements.  It is conceivable that more tourists in the coming weeks will gradually match the July 4th crowd.  Cartagena's set of interesting museums and better tourist signage and services will certainly draw more tourists from a bigger array of countries in the near future.

Yet, the quick rises and falls of tourist traffic remains a concern even if the absolute number of them grow over time.  Sudden increases mean establishments cannot cater to all of them, creating a negative reputation among the tourists.  And sudden decreases in tourist numbers mean that many investments entrepreneurs poured into tourist facilities goes underused, sinking precious capital in physical establishments that have no immediate hope of sufficient returns to recoup the investments.

For people who work in the tourist industry, especially informal ones like street prostitutes, constantly fluctuating tourist numbers mean that planning one's financial future become all the more difficult.  Lean times in supposedly the "high" tourist season (like now) mean that these informal workers cannot risk big personal investments (whether it be education, small businesses, and not working for sometime to get other job training/searching done) that allow them to move on to more profitable/stable employment opportunities.

It is a harsh reality for tourist-centered economies such as that of Cartagena.  The success of tourist businesses have attracted so much capital and local talents that all other industries have been marginalized.  The wealth brought in by successful tourist business owners drive up prices of real estate and other limited resources in the city, creating a unique case of "Dutch disease" not based on sale of one single commodity.  If the tourist businesses continue to thrive, such arrangement will continue to serve the city well.

But if there is anything that is predictable about the tourist business, it is its unpredictability.  New, better tourist destinations, with new, better tourist facilities, are constantly fighting for a limited number of relatively wealthy, globally minded tourist traffic.  A city like Cartagena that has a good reputation now is not guaranteed to remain so in the eyes of future tourists.  Over-reliance on industries that assume the tourists will continue to arrive in big numbers create enormous risks in the local economy, a fact not lost on the idle prostitutes on its main square.