Vice Tourism

Vice tourism refers to travel motivated by access to activities (gambling, prostitution, drugs, alcohol) that are illegal or restricted in the traveler’s home jurisdiction. Along the US-Mexico border, vice tourism boomed during the Prohibition era (1920–1933) as Americans crossed into Mexican border towns for drinking, gambling, and entertainment.

Border cities like Mexicali, Tijuana, and Ciudad Juárez developed extensive red-light districts and entertainment zones catering to American visitors, creating complex economies and social hierarchies tied to the vice trade.