This book is based on the years field work originally undertaken by Dr. Omondi with a number of sex workers and their clients and other stakeholders including police and bar owners on the Malindi coast-line of Kenya. This book is not only an analysis of the modes of life of the sex workers, and their motives and strategies, but it is also a story of female empowerment for a number of women as they create paths through the ambiguity of Kenyas laws and the application of those laws. Additionally, in describing the strategies it might be said that this book is also a warning to older male tourists as they are lied to, tricked and taken advantage of by the stratagems adopted by many of the women. Not all women are successful, but a sufficient number are, and their success is a model for many other who would wish to emulate their achievements.This book differs from others books on this subject. This book is premised in qualitative research paradigms and grounded research with respondents with whom the first author has had a relationship of approximately a year while doing field work and in several instances, communications continued past that year. This form of research also generated a number of ethical and practical problems that are also discussed in the book. There is also an additional chapter which discusses the implications of Covid for sex workers in Kenya.

Professor Chris Ryan undertakes research in the field of tourism, and has developed research interests in China in the last two decades, including contractual work with Chinese partners such as Beijing Union University, Sun Yat-sen University and others. He has also undertaken reports for the United Nations World Tourism Organization in China, is editor of Tourism Critiques: Practice and Theory, and for 25 years was editor of Tourism Management and took it to its current position as the leading tourism research journal. He also founded Tourism Management Perspectives, which is also a SSCI cited journal. Tourism Critiques is fully Plan S compliant. As a researcher, according to Google Scholar Citations, he has over 27,000 citations and has an h-index of 79. He has authored or co-authored approximately 220 refereed journal articles and 14 books. He has worked with various organisations including the Terracotta Warriors Museum and the Fuxi Mausoleum in China. Within New Zealand he has completed work for Tourism New Zealand, the former Ministry of Tourism and subsequently the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Tourism Auckland, Tourism Waikato and individual private sector organisations. Rose Omondi gained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Nairobi, Kenya and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. After her studies in the UK, Rose returned to Kenya and took up a lecturing position at Moi University during which time; she involved herself researching gender issues. She then self-funded her doctoral studies at the University of Waikato in New Zealand and returned to Moi University. In 2013, she was nominated to the position of County Executive Committee Member responsible for Trade, Tourism and Heritage for Kisumu County Government, a post she held until 2017. During this period, her departments main responsibility was developing County tourism policies and to identify, develop & market tourism products. She also chaired all the 47 County executives responsible for tourism in Kenya. In 2018, Rose returned to higher education as Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST). In the department, Rose was responsible for smooth running of the department, supervising post-graduate students and overseeing curriculum development. She took a break from the University in February 2022 to participate in the just concluded Kenyas elective politics. As a researcher, she has spoken on gender issues at conferences in Spain, South Korea and Norway amongst others, and has published work in Tourism Management and Leisure Sciences and continues to advocate on behalf of tourism and the role of women in Kenya.