Beiruting News

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - More than 3,000 websites have emerged since 2013 touting Brazil as a sex-tourism destination, and the situation has worsened with major events such as the 2014 World Cup, a survey found.

The tally by private firm Axur and published Sunday in the O Globo newspaper shows the number of sites linking Brazil to porn, prostitution and sex tourism has far surpassed the 2,165 that were already shut down by the tourism ministry in 2011 and 2012.

Axur counted 3,350 new sites in several different languages created since 2013.

According to Axur, Rio de Janeiro is the most commonly touted sex-tourism destination in the South American country of more than 200 million people.

One site states: "Our young women will not be only sex goddesses but also guides, interpreters, dance partners and really personal lovers."

Another town that is widely targeted is Fortaleza in the northeast.

Axur says big events like the World Cup or the next year's Olympic Games in Rio encourage sexual tourism in the country.

The tourism ministry disagrees, saying the international events actually "serve to strengthen the network of protection against sexual exploitation."

Brazil saw 5.8 million foreign tourists in 2013 and slightly more than six million in 2014, the year of the World Cup, but there is no official estimate of how many visitors were attracted by sex tourism.

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