Unveiling Dubai's Hidden Sex Market: Where Bold Escorts Approach Brits in Hotel Nightclubs and Promise ‘We Can Do It All’

AS a belly dancer cavorted onstage in a shadowy Dubai nightclub, 30 women stood alone at tables, before one sauntered over towards me.

In this Sin City of sand, where it is as easy to buy sex as anywhere in the world, she whispered her price and added without hesitation: “We can do everything.”

Dancers in a Dubai hotel, one of many where sex workers tout their services Our reporter was instantly approached by a woman in one club touting sexual servicesCredit: Getty Despite its strict laws, prositution is readily on sale in DubaiCredit: Getty

Alongside the £200million penthouses and the most expensive sports cars on the planet, there is another sought-after commodity .

Public shows of affection might be frowned upon in the strict Muslim emirate and until recently extra-marital sex was a crime, but in hotels and massage parlours, sex work is widely tolerated.

The sprawling desert metropolis continues to grow at an astonishing rate – its population has doubled in just over a decade and this year passed four million for the first time.

The skyline is thick with cranes thanks to non-stop development of apartment blocks and office complexes and it is now a global hub for tourism, trade and investment – and .

The explosion in population and visitor numbers has been matched by a based there – and a rocketing number of British clients.

Around 1.5million Brits will have visited by the end of this year, up by 13 per cent on last year, which in turn enjoyed a 14 per cent increase on 2023.

While most are there to sample the booming tourist attractions or lucrative business opportunities, others indulge in its seedier side.

The Sun travelled to the oil-rich kingdom to investigate – and discovered it was shockingly accessible.

The Marina Byblos is a 4-star hotel a few minutes from Jumeirah Beach, with rooms enjoying stunning views across Dubai Marina.

With six restaurants and a panoramic rooftop pool, it has plenty of attractions to entice customers, with one of the most popular being the ground-floor Amadeus nightclub.

The hotel website boasts: “Dubai’s nightlife gets more interesting at Amadeus club.”

But it is only once punters have paid their entrance fee of 100 Dirhams (£20) and passed through the heavy, leather-buttoned door that they really discover what is on offer.

Once inside, I found a darkened room packed with women, all standing alone or sitting at tables either staring vacantly into space or nursing a drink they rarely touched.

The loud pulsing beat made conversation difficult but the dozens of men in there repeatedly approached the women to chat as a belly dancer moved provocatively on a small stage.

After taking a seat I barely had a chance to take the first sip of my £12 bottle of imported lager when Eva, 32, from Tehran, plonked herself down beside me.

And before I had taken a second swig, she made it clear what was on offer.

She said: “It’s 1,500 Dirham [£311] for the whole night and we can do everything.”

Nodding to the dancer on stage, she added: “I don’t dance up there but I can dance for you. Where is your hotel?”

Everyone thinks it is very strict here but as you can see – not with sex

Eva, sex worker

I politely declined her offer and she relaxed and told how she used to work as an artist in Tehran but had to leave the country due to “a few problems”.

She didn’t elaborate on whether it was personal issues or due to life under the harsh Islamic regime, where women are beaten if they don’t wear the hijab.

Asked how this new life of sex work in Dubai compared to her previous, creative career, she said: “This is harder – because there are not enough customers.

“Weekends are okay because the tourists come here, especially British men. I have had lots of British men, they are always very kind.

“I know some of the other girls who work here to say hello to, but we are not friends. We are competitors.”

How are they able to work so openly, given that Dubai is a strict Muslim country?

She laughed as she raised a finger to her nose and sniffed: “They are strict about drugs, not sex.

“Drugs are very much not allowed, but sex is different.

“As long as you are in your hotel room doing things privately, why does anybody care?

“Everyone thinks it is very strict here but as you can see – not with sex.”

‘Forced by Russian mafia’

Human rights campaigners fear many of the prostitutes working in Dubai have been trafficked or enticed here under false pretences of a regular job offer before being forced into sex work.

Horrific stories have emerged of vulnerable women being advantage of by wealthy men, with of how she was beaten into a coma by Russians at a party.

Ukrainian OnlyFans model Maria Kovalchuk, 20, revealed she was beaten into a coma by Russians at a partyCredit: East2West Shocking pictures of Maria emerged after her ordealCredit: East2West

Eva said: “I was not forced to do this, although I did have to get away from Iran.

“But I am happy to be here.

“Most girls are, apart from the Russians. We think a lot of them are forced to do this by the Russian mafia.”

Notorious sex hotspot

The obvious place to investigate Eva’s claims was another nightclub 20 miles away.

The 35-minute drive along the Sheikh Zayed Road – the traffic-choked, 12-lane highway that cuts through Dubai – took me past a string of three-storey, glass-fronted sports car showrooms.

The Ferraris and Lamborghinis gleamed beneath neon lights, while on the other side of the road the 2,717ft-high Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, soared into the dark night sky.

After a brief but inevitable delay caused by traffic, my taxi arrived outside the Russian-themed Moscow Hotel in the Deira area of Dubai, close to the international airport.

This has long been a notorious hotspot for prostitutes who frequent its Red Square nightclub.

If you want sex here, it’s the easiest thing to come by

British expat

And we pulled up outside, it was clear that nothing had changed, despite Dubai’s recent attempts to crackdown on people trafficking.

There was a steady stream of women entering the hotel’s sliding glass doors in ones and twos – and an equal number leaving on the arm of a man.

Oddly, the door leading to the ground-floor nightclub was identical to that in the Marina Byblos, heavy and studded red leather.

The entrance fee was more – 250 Dirhams – although it did include two drinks.

Sun reporter Robin Perrie saw escorts touting their services at a number of nightclubsCredit: Louis Wood The cash-rich city is filled with supercars and lavish multi-million pound apartmentsCredit: Getty The sprawling metropolis’ population has boomed over the last centuryCredit: Getty

Stepping into the Red Square club is a shock to the senses – it is bigger than the Amadeus club, noisier and much busier.

Scores of women were standing around the edge or sitting at tables with just as many men either approaching them or waiting to do so.

One didn’t speak a word of English other than to be able to introduce herself and state that her price was 1,000 Dirhams (£207) for two hours.

But the language barrier wasn’t a problem.

Skilled at communicating with men from all around the world, she whipped out her phone and opened the Google translate app.

Just like Eva from Tehran, she typed out a message to make it clear she was willing to engage in any activity, apart from one specific sex act.

I guessed that Eva’s warning about the plight of Russians may well include figures like this woman, who was from a former Soviet republic, so I took her phone and typed out a message asking if she was ok, and if she wanted to be here, doing this job.

With a sad look she shook her head.

Before I could quiz her further, I felt someone tugging my elbow and turned to find an older woman with tough features, by some distance the oldest woman in the club.

She pointed to a much younger woman who was dancing enthusiastically next to her and yelled in heavily-accented English: “You want girl? 1,000 Dirhams.”

There is no real way to stop it but we see it happening more and more – everyone turns a blind eye

Hotel worker

Puzzled, I asked what their relationship was and the older woman, from Armenia, another former Soviet republic, replied: “I am her manager.”

She claimed the woman was 23, although she looked younger.

I declined and walked away, only to be accosted seconds later by Marcia, 30, from Ethiopia.

She proudly boasted: “I am the only African here. There are many African women in Dubai, but I am the only one in this club.”

‘I’ve never seen anything like it’

I needed a breather and headed into the hotel lobby, where I took a seat next to an Indian man who looked shell-shocked.

He explained he too had recently emerged from the club and said: “They don’t tell you about this on Booking.com.

“I have been to Dubai a few times but have never stayed here before, and won’t be coming back.

“I am here with a friend. He was tired so he went to bed and I thought I would take a look in the club.

“I have never seen anything like it in my life before.”

Dubai has made some efforts to clean up its nightlife scene.

There used to be a huge problem with women advertising their services on small calling cards, which were littered on pavements and placed under car windscreen wipers.

But the authorities had a clean-up – on one night alone 50,000 were collected and binned – and they are rarely seen now.

And in recent years the UAE has made attempts to tackle people trafficking.

Laws have been tightened, with severe penalties including life imprisonment for the worst offenders. A national committee coordinates efforts to combat the traffickers across the emirates and the Dubai police have a hotline where victims can call for help.

But our visit proved the sex industry – technically illegal in the UAE – is alive and well.

£12 call girls

Around 93 per cent of the country’s four million population are expats, many being wealthy men a long way from home.

As well as the nightclubs, the internet provides a ready supply of sex workers with dedicated sites set up to facilitate the trade.

Sex workers offer to take clients up to their hotel rooms (stock image)Credit: Getty

A massage website offering “female escorts in Dubai” has 7,000 women on its books – with prices ranging from a barely believable £12 to an equally incredible £6,000.

One hotel employee in the Barsha Heights, a couple of miles inland from the famous Palm Jumeirah neighbourhood of man-made islands, told The Sun: “There is no real way to stop it but we see it happening more and more – everyone turns a blind eye.

“People slip in and out for a short time and nobody asks questions, even though we are supposed to take the ID of everyone coming to the hotel rooms as per UAE law.

When I first arrived in 2008 it was confined to the seedier parts of town – now it’s all over

British expat

“We see all sorts of men come – Arabs, Indians, Europeans, Russians.

“Some girls get through five or six clients in a night. Since the war in Ukraine there are lots of Russians and Ukrainians coming here, for two or three months at a time because the money is worth it.

“They earn a lot and you see them wearing designer clothes and handbags, with nice jewellery.

“They carry bags of designer shopping and appear to be enjoying their life in Dubai.”

A Brit who lives permanently in Dubai added: “If you want sex here, it’s the easiest thing to come by.

“I just need to go to Tinder, or go to one of the many hotels known as being easy to find these women. They’re even at the nicer bars and clubs these days, so actually, it’s probably much easier to access than back home in spite of this being a Muslim country.

“It’s becoming more and more blatant.

“When I first arrived in 2008 it was confined to the seedier parts of town.

“Now it’s all over.”

Back at the Moscow Hotel I said goodbye to the shocked Indian tourist as he headed for the lift and I went outside to catch a taxi back to my own hotel.

As for all of the other men leaving the Red Square nightclub, they all seemed to have a woman on their arm.

The Marina Byblos hotel and Moscow Hotel have been approached for comment.