SYDNEY: Sex sells, as the saying goes, and while failing banks may give the stock market jitters, they have yet to rattle the world's oldest profession, Australian industry members say.
As financial turmoil spins around the globe, some Australian brothels say it is business-as-usual for now with sex seen as a consumer need like tobacco, for which demand remains strong despite an economic slump.
"We're certainly not seeing an impact yet, hopefully it won't happen," the madam of Sydney's upmarket Xclusive bordello said.
"I think that during times of economic downturn, you often find that it's alcohol, tobacco, gambling and the sex industry which are the blue-chip industries," said the woman, who gave her name as Catherine.
"Because I think men are unwilling to give up their alcohol, their sex, their gambling and their smoking."
Catherine said that the arrival of the southern hemisphere summer and Australia's hosting of the Rugby League World Cup beginning later this month would almost certainly boost trade.
"Even this week, business as a whole has been up. It's been good. We've seen a steady increase over the past couple of weeks. But again we're coming into summer and that's always good for business," he said.
"We're hoping that we won't see any downturn." Neil Gilmore, who owns the Pentagon Grand brothel on Queensland's Gold Coast, said business had not suffered as a result of other global problems such as the September 11 attacks in the US or the SARS epidemic a few years ago.
"And at the moment, we're not seeing much of an effect from the global economic crisis," he said.
