Demand for Escort Services Rockets During WEF Summit at Davos

Demand for escort services rises meteorically every year in Davos during the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) summit. Credit: World Economic Forum

As politicians, business leaders, big tech CEOs, celebrities, and the leaders of charitable organizations descend on Davos for the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting, they will be joined by an entirely different group of professionals – escorts.

In the buildup to the summit, several women who work as escorts have spoken to mainstream media outlets about the sudden uptake in clients that occurs every year in the Alpine town in the Swiss Alps.

Between meetings to discuss international affairs and the world economy, the global elite reportedly like to party and relax with scores of escorts. This year at Davos, the world’s foremost businesspeople and political elites will be discussing the Ukraine war, climate change, and the cost of living crisis; that is, assuming they have enough energy after their late-night liaisons.

Business is booming for escorts at Davos

According to several reports by mainstream media outlets, the world’s oldest profession is well represented at Davos. Over the course of the summit, which lasts between January 16 and 20, escorts have reportedly been booked into the same hotels as Davos’ most important guests.

The German tabloid Bild spoke to one of the escorts, named “Liana”. She told Bild that she dresses in formal business attire to blend in with the crowd of international professionals. “There are strict controls, you can’t get into some hotels,” Liana said.

Liana told the newspaper that she charges €700 for an hour, whereas a client would have to pay €2,300 for the whole night. She had an appointment with a regular customer from the US the same evening she was interviewed. “Whenever he’s in Switzerland, he calls,” she said.

Several escort managers in Switzerland, where prostitution is legal, told newspapers that demand for their services spikes during the WEF meeting at Davos and during other summits.

A managing director of one such service in Zurich told Bild that “On the day of arrival and departure, we also have more inquiries.” The escort manager said that he does not send the escorts directly to Davos, but demand is increased when attendees catch flights to and from the summit.

The manager of another escort service in Aargau, 100 miles away from Davos, told the Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten that “Some [clients] also book escorts for themselves and their employees to party in the hotel suite.”

Salomé Balthus, an escort, author, and German public intellectual, who is attending Davos to meet with clients told 20 Minuten that “I prefer to take money from the rich than from the poor.”

Does the WEF have a public image problem?

In recent years, the WEF has received heavy criticism from a broad cross-section of society, even from groups with opposing political views. The not-so-new revelation that prostitutes flock to Davos for the annual WEF meeting – which has been commented on several times in the past – probably will not help the organization improve its public image.

On the one hand, environmental activists have lambasted the WEF for failing to do enough to halt climate change. Meanwhile, Davos attendees have been denigrated as hypocrites for flying to the summit in an array of greenhouse gas-spewing private jets.

On the other side of the spectrum, the WEF has been accused of using climate change as an excuse to encourage draconian policies and gradually replace democracy with plutocratic rule.

More broadly, the organization is frequently called into question for promoting elitism. Many critics have argued that Davos attendees are too exclusively made up of the global elites to adequately understand the difficulties of normal people.