As Sydney prepares for a visit by Pope Benedict XVI and hundreds of thousands of Catholics, the city’s brothels are readying themselves for an expected surge in demand for sex.
Any time Australia’s biggest city hosts a major event — from the 2003 Rugby World Cup to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last year — it is boomtime for the sex industry, insiders say.
And with 225,000 foreign and Australian pilgrims expected in Sydney for six-days of events celebrating the Catholic faith from July 15-20, they expect World Youth Day to be no different.
Sydney brothel Xclusive is putting on extra workers to provide sexual favors to lonely tourists and Sydneysiders during event.
“We will get a lot of tourists, pilgrims and we will still get the curious,” a spokeswoman for the Bondi Junction bordello said.
“The World Council of Churches, when they had their congress in Canberra back in the 1990s, that was the best business period ever,” she said. “Obviously we’re not promoting it at your traditional Catholic community and it’s unlikely we will get priests through. But there’ll be lots of tourists in town and there’ll be lots of people in town.”
Xclusive’s manager, a 30-something blonde who would only give her name as Catherine, said she was rostering extra girls and would probably take on another receptionist to handle the increased demand.
The purpose-built bordello, which has luxurious rooms complete with double showers, spas, custom-made beds and panic buttons for the sex workers, is expecting a 150 percent to 200 percent hike in business during World Youth Day.
Catherine believes the brothel’s proximity to some of the major events, including the pope’s final mass which is expected to draw up to 500,000 people to nearby Randwick Racecourse on July 20, could bring customers to her door.
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