Although technically illegal, prostitution is widespread in Vietnam. AFP reported: "Hair salons, karaoke bars and massage parlors offering "additional services" are abundant in the political capital Hanoi, as they are in other cities across the country.
State employees often celebrate national festivals and success at work with an evening out on the town, which usually involves copious quantities of alcohol, a slap-up feast and an evening in a karaoke bar followed by further "after hours" entertainment. Mini-hotels are the favored place for illicit bedroom entertainment. According to the Encyclopedia of Sexuality: After the Viet Cong occupation of Saigon, the new government tried to eliminate prostitution by closing brothels and sending prostitutes to work or to so-called reeducation centers.
Between and , 14, prostitutes in Ho Chi Minh City were sent to those centers. The Government claimed that prostitution was eradicated in the South by But as Stephanie Fahey remarked: "In a country where the Communist Party attempted to eradicate prostitution and pornography, prostitutes are now found in almost every bar, restaurant and hotel whether private or state-owned. By the first six months of , there were , prostitutes and 2, brothels. Many of the establishments are, officially, bars selling beer to Vietnamese clients.
According to one recent unofficial estimate Khuat Thu Hong , there may be half a million sex workers in all of Vietnam, not including the increasing number of male prostitutes in the southern provinces and the big northern cities. Government Resolutions 53, 87, and 88, passed in and , strengthen management over cultural activities and monitor the struggle against the so-called social evils, including prostitution, gambling, and drug use. Although prostitution is illegal in Vietnam, because of economic problems it is again becoming the booming business it was during the Vietnam War.
But tourists report that because of corruption, the interpretation of the law is quite broad. Some of the girls who are looking for customers and are talking to tourists are agent provocateurs for corrupt policemen who force the foreigner to pay large sums to "avoid an incident. In late , state media estimated the country had around 37, prostitutes though the authorities had official records on only 14, Some say the true figure is over , By one estimate at one time there were over 50, prostitutes in Ho Chi Minh City alone.
