Itchy Norwegians may be one of the reasons why the Northern Jutland police have registered an unusual increase in the number of brothels in the northernmost reaches of Denmark.

Norway banned the purchase of sexual services from January 1 this year and police believe this may have caused an increasing number of Norwegians to take ferries from Norway to Hirtshals and Frederikshavn in Denmark.

“We have observed that eight new brothels have opened in the northernmost part of the region after Norway’s ban on January 1. That is a lot up here. We don’t know for certain whether it’s because of more Norwegian customers, but we assume that the Norwegian ban is playing its part,” says Dep. Chief Sup. Frank Olsen of the North Jutland Police Force.

Foreign prostitutes
Apart from the increase in the number of brothels, there has also been an increase in the number of foreign prostitutes in the region.

“But we don’t know whether they’ve moved their sex business from Norway as, to be honest, they’re not very talkative,” Olsen says.

The National Comissioner’s Office says other police regions have not noted any major change in the prostitution market elsewhere in the country following the Norwegian ban.

Norwegian ban
Norway made the purchase of sexual services illegal as of January 1 this year with Norwegians caught buying sexual services at home or abroad liable to heavy fines or a six-month prison term.

The move has been designed to stop sex tourism and street prostitution.

According to a report by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation up to the January deadline, some 50 percent of East European and 40 percent of Nigerian prostitutes had already left the country by the time the ban took effect.