Danish photographer Sofie Amalie Klougart stumbled upon "romance tourism" by accident. She began approaching couples on the beach during a work trip to Mombasa, Kenya. Klougart's original plan -- a story about love -- was quickly derailed by an older woman, who cried that "love doesn't exist here."
The woman, Louise, introduced Klougart to the little-known concept of romantic tourism. Kenyan men approach older-to-middle age western women on vacation, and a sexual relationship ensues. For the men, these short-term relationships are a means of survival; meanwhile, the women's experience is more often than not rooted in romantic fantasy. In other words, they tend to develop emotional feelings that usually go unrequited.
Klougart's series started as a project about love, but ended up an exposure of the inevitable loneliness yielded by these pseudo-romances.
African Romance Tourism
Sofie Amalie Klougart Documents a Pseudo-Romantic Phenomenon in Kenya
Trend Themes
1. Romance Tourism - Opportunity for companies to create sustainable and ethical travel experiences for older-to-middle age women who seek companionship without sexual exploitation.
2. Emotional Tourism - Opportunity for companies to create emotional and psychological support programs for travelers participating in pseudo-romantic relationships.
3. Social Impact Travel - Opportunity for companies to create social awareness programs that educate travelers about the local culture, traditions and ethical tourism in order to minimize exploitation in pseudoromantic relationships.
Industry Implications
1. Travel and Tourism - Travel and tourism industry can create awareness through training programs for travel agents, provide ethical guidelines for travelers to minimize the exploitation and educate marginalized communities about options that offer sustainable income alternatives from tourism.
2. Online Dating - Online dating industry can create awareness programs that identify potential scams and unethical behavior in order to protect individuals seeking long-term companionship meet-ups.
3. Wellness Tourism - Wellness tourism industry can create destinations specifically designed for emotional healing and create wellness programs to support individuals having experienced distress from pseudo-romantic relationships.