Adult-travel guide for Asia

Sex work is criminalised under the 1996 Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, but enforcement is selective and the visible industry around tourism is large.

6 cities covered

Prostitution is illegal under the Revised Penal Code. Anti-trafficking laws are actively enforced, with periodic high-profile raids in bar zones.

6 cities covered

Sex work is illegal and subject to administrative penalties. Enforcement varies, but tourists face additional immigration risk if detained.

4 cities covered

No single federal prostitution statute; provincial Sharia and local ordinances apply unevenly. Recent revisions to the Criminal Code (KUHP 2026) criminalise extramarital sex generally.

5 cities covered

Sex work is illegal under the 2008 Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. Foreign tourists face elevated scrutiny since the post-2008 enforcement push.

3 cities covered

Prostitution itself is not criminal; soliciting, brothel-keeping, and trafficking are. A small number of licensed brothels operate in Geylang under police registration.

1 city covered

Sex work is illegal under federal law; Muslims face additional Sharia-court penalties. Enforcement intensity varies sharply by state and by political climate.

4 cities covered

Penal Code 2017 (Law No. 12/NA) Article 215 criminalises prostitution; Article 134 criminalises trafficking. LPRP one-party state with socially-conservative-but-uneven enforcement. Visible scene small and concentrated in Vientiane; Boten Golden City SEZ on the Chinese border is a documented scam-compound concern (similar to Sihanoukville).

2 cities covered

The 1956 Anti-Prostitution Law bans specific paid penetrative acts but a regulated 'fuzoku' industry built around legal workarounds exists openly under the Entertainment Business Law.

7 cities covered

The 2004 Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic criminalises buyers as well as sellers. Periodic crackdowns close visible districts, then the trade reorganises online.

4 cities covered

Sex work was decriminalised in 2011 only inside designated 'special zones' that local governments must explicitly create — no county has done so, leaving the practice effectively illegal in practice.

3 cities covered

Solitary prostitution by an individual in their own premises is not criminal; soliciting, living off proceeds, and keeping a 'vice establishment' are. The result is the well-known 'one-woman brothel' arrangement.

1 city covered

Sex work has been criminalised in the People's Republic since the 1949 founding. Article 358 of the Criminal Law criminalises organising prostitution; Article 359 criminalises introducing; Article 360 criminalises soliciting prostitution while knowingly HIV-positive. Customers are subject to administrative detention under the Public Security Administration Punishments Law. Enforcement intensity is among the highest in the region and has increased under the Xi Jinping era's anti-corruption and morality campaigns.

7 cities covered

Special Administrative Region with Portuguese civil-law tradition (distinct from PRC criminal law). Penal Code 1996 (Decreto-Lei 58/95/M) Articles 169-171 criminalise the surround (brothel operation, procuring, minors) but not solitary adult sex work itself. The casino-tourism context shapes everything — Cotai Strip, the historic Lisboa corridor, and dedicated sauna/KTV buildings adjacent to gambling floors.

1 city covered

Post-1990 democratic transition; Criminal Code 2015 Articles 12.6 and 12.7 criminalise compelling-prostitution and brothel-operation but sex work itself by an adult is not specifically criminalised. 2016 LGBT legal reforms decriminalised same-sex activity entirely. Adult-entertainment economy concentrated in Ulaanbaatar's Sukhbaatar Square / Peace Avenue corridor.

1 city covered

Selling sex is not itself illegal under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 (ITPA), but virtually everything around it — soliciting, brothel-keeping, living off earnings, procuring — is. The result is a large, dispersed, mostly invisible-to-tourists industry layered over the historic visible red-light districts of Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Pune.

7 cities covered

Penal Code 1883 (Sections 365 and 365A criminalise same-sex acts; rarely enforced) and the Brothels Ordinance 1889 + Vagrants Ordinance 1841 — colonial-era statutes still in force. Sex work itself by an adult acting alone is not specifically criminalised but the surrounding offences mean the activity operates illegally in practice. Post-civil-war (2009) tourism revival; 2022 economic crisis and 2023-2024 recovery.

1 city covered

Muluki Penal Code 2017 (in force August 2018) Sections 121/122/126 + Human Trafficking and Transportation Control Act 2007 form the legal framework. Sex work itself by an adult alone in private is not specifically criminalised but the surround is. Centrally important context: Nepal is internationally documented as one of the highest sex-trafficking source countries; the Nepal-India open border is the most-trafficked border in South Asia.

2 cities covered

Distinctively for the region, Bangladesh has a legally-registered brothel framework recognised by the High Court's 2000 ruling (BNWLA v. Government of Bangladesh). Approximately 11 registered brothels operate, including Daulatdia (Rajbari district, one of the largest brothel complexes in the world). Workers register by affidavit; surrounding statutes from the colonial-era Penal Code 1860 + Bengal Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act 1933 + Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act 2012.

1 city covered