More sex please, we're British tourists

LONDON: Nearly one in four young British men has sex with a new partner while abroad, although half of their partners are fellow Brits, according to a study released on Thursday.   

Overall, 14 percent of British men and seven percent of women have a sexual relationship while on holiday or otherwise abroad, but the figure rises to 17 percent for 16-24 year-old women, and 23 percent of men of that age group.   

Budget airlines and a booming economy have seen foreign travel soar in recent years, and young Britons already have a reputation for hard partying in places from Bali and Bratislava to Ireland and Ibiza. The vast majority of Britons' overseas sexual partners were from Europe: half were British, and over a third from European countries, said the study in Sexually Transmitted Infections, a British Medical Journal publication.   

Those figures in part reflect the fact that three-quarters of Britons' overseas trips are to European countries, although perceived risk of partners could also be a factor, it said. Asked about the risk of HIV, respondents cited North America, Thailand and Kenya as high-risk countries, said the report, which found that one in 10 men and one in 12 women who had sex while abroad thought the HIV risk was high.   

British men were 'significantly' more likely than women to have sex with Asian and North American partners. The findings were based on interviews with a random sample of 12,000 men and women aged between 16 and 44, as part of the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL).