Hunglish.orgGoulash isn't the only recipe cooking in the kettle in Hungary, porn and prostitution are a regular component of modern Hungarian culture and life. Budapest is considered one of the capitals of pornography and they have some of the most beautiful women in the world to prove it.
Budapest is famous as one of the world’s sex capitals and they’ve got the prostitution services and pornography to prove it. It’s all legal business here (although advertising prostitution is illegal and most services chose to call their clientele, ‘escorts’.) The industry is modestly regulated with those trading sex for money in certain areas required to carry a health certificate which can cost as much as €270 Euros. There is also an official income tax category for such occupations although authorities are not likely to see those tax rolls. Usually it is a mystery as to the costs patrons will pay, but most clients can expect to pay between 10,000 to 15,000 HUF for a half an hour, but longer time can often lend to better deals. Some ‘high-end’ prostitutes can run up to and over €1,000 Euros.
Prostitution is becoming internationalized in Hungary with many visitors coming for certain holidays from around the world and has become a widespread industry called sex tourism. The young women who work in the prostitution business, mainly those on the streets, are some of the poorest. In Hungary there are 450 cases of open human trafficking cases where women are brought from poorer areas or countries that are promised work only to find out later that they are enslaved and dependent on others for money in exchange for sex. Some areas in Hungary have even more lucrative sexual services than in the capital like in areas like Lake Balaton and larger cities like Keszthely and Siófok. Many of these hookers are part of the poor Roma minority and are cheap and can even be found on country rural roads.
Pornography generates 636 million Euros a year in Hungary, 0.5% of the country’s GDP with Hungarian men spending a total of 125 million HUF on prostitution last year. There are over 40,000 sexual service providers in the city and it is often recommended that you make a choice for room service rather than from the street. The phenomena of point, click, call and wait. Websites like redzone.hu list girl’s pictures, details and phone numbers for business. Still many girls roam on the scenic riverside promenade running between the Hotel Inter-Continental Budapest and the Budapest Marriott Hotel as well as on and around Váci Utca and the main pedestrian shopping drag in Pest. Visitors seeking sexual tourism are warned of “knocking shops” or girls who hand out in the lobbies of certain hotels—they can charge high prices. It is also possible to pick up girls at strip clubs and at peep shows, these occasions will generally cost between €100 Euros plus 5,000HUF for a hotel room and another 5,000HUF for a taxi that will stay parked just outside the hotel.
Porn film companies in Budapest are a common mainstay in Hungary as over 150 to 200 porn films are made in and around Budapest each year. These films can be produced much cheaper than in other places. In Hungary there are regular articles in the news of pornographic videos being taken in public and if those film companies are caught they are charged a $50 dollar fine. Nearly a quarter of all pornographic videos produced in Europe are made here with most of the reigning Continental porn queens being Hungarian. In fact, Hungary provides more porn actresses than all the rest of Europe combined. In 1998 the Economist forecasted that pornography would be a standard component in the world’s entertainment in the 21st century. In 2001 half of the pornography awards went to the Brazilians and the other half to the Hungarians. Is all fair in love and porn? For the world over it may not be, but for the Hungarians, the scales are defiantly weighted in their favor.