Something very strange happened at the World Cup in South Africa. With an influx of thousands of soccer fans, South Africa was expecting an increase in prostitution. Since prostitution is illegal in South Africa, the government feared an influx of 40,000 prostitutes to cater to the soccer fans.
However, soccer fans were not interested in sex. The demand of prostitutes actually fell sharply during the world cup. Escort and prostitution business dropped by as much as 80% during the World Cup.
So, what were the fans doing for diversion, besides soccer? Well, cultural centres such as museums and art galleries have reported record attendance.
Wayde Davy, deputy director of Johannesburg's Apartheid Museum, said visitors to see the exhibitions on South Africa's struggle against racial inequality had never been so good.
"Before the tournament we anticipated an increase in numbers, we planned for around 2,000 a day but we've actually seen around 4,000 a day. One day we saw over 6,000 people -- it's gone through the roof.
Antoinette Murdoch, the chief curator of the Johannesburg Art Gallery -- which specializes in contemporary art installations -- said she had seen similar results.
"We normally have around 3,000 visitors but this month it's been closer to 4,000 which is a significant increase for us. We were worried that we would be inundated with sport hooligans, but there seems a lot of interest in our culture. We're situated by a fan park, but we've had no examples of drunken behavior, just friendly visitors and big donations in our tips box!"
Who would have thought that soccer fans would have such highbrow taste? The first thought would be that all they would be interested in would be soccer, booze and women. But evidently not.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/07/09/prostitute.gallery/index.html?hpt=C1
However, soccer fans were not interested in sex. The demand of prostitutes actually fell sharply during the world cup. Escort and prostitution business dropped by as much as 80% during the World Cup.
So, what were the fans doing for diversion, besides soccer? Well, cultural centres such as museums and art galleries have reported record attendance.
Wayde Davy, deputy director of Johannesburg's Apartheid Museum, said visitors to see the exhibitions on South Africa's struggle against racial inequality had never been so good.
"Before the tournament we anticipated an increase in numbers, we planned for around 2,000 a day but we've actually seen around 4,000 a day. One day we saw over 6,000 people -- it's gone through the roof.
Antoinette Murdoch, the chief curator of the Johannesburg Art Gallery -- which specializes in contemporary art installations -- said she had seen similar results.
"We normally have around 3,000 visitors but this month it's been closer to 4,000 which is a significant increase for us. We were worried that we would be inundated with sport hooligans, but there seems a lot of interest in our culture. We're situated by a fan park, but we've had no examples of drunken behavior, just friendly visitors and big donations in our tips box!"
Who would have thought that soccer fans would have such highbrow taste? The first thought would be that all they would be interested in would be soccer, booze and women. But evidently not.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/07/09/prostitute.gallery/index.html?hpt=C1
