Market depressed

Brothel owner Willy van der Sloot, herself a former prostitute, said she had never seen the sex market so depressed.

"Some days there are just no people," she sighed.

Twenty-six-year-old Oxana, who shares Eva's window, says her income has halved in six months while her window rent went up 25 percent in January. On a "good day," she sees six clients but sometimes only one -- and 50 euros per visitor not enough to cover her half of the 150-euro daily rent.

"But I can't do it for 20 or 30 euros like some of the others,” she said. “That is not money."

Escort club owner Hugo Snoep says that "things have never been this bad" in his 16 years in the business: "Me and the girls are battling to keep our heads above water."

Increasingly stingy

Between taking calls from clients, offering them a special price of 160 euros per girl per hour -- down from the usual 175 euros, Snoep said the economic crisis had made a deep dent in his biggest client base -- travelling businessman.

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"Before, they had big expense accounts from which they could subtract their 'meals' and the like,” he said. “Nowadays, their bosses are not so generous. We are all in the same economic boat.”

"Where I used to send out 12 to 14 girls a day, now I am down to just three some days," he added.

According to Andre van Dorst, director of the Netherlands' VER sex industry association, turnover has dropped 30 to 40 percent over the last year. And the more exclusive the club, the bigger the impact as clients seek cheaper options.

"Eating and drinking are the very last things people save on, followed by sex -- both are basic needs,” said Dorst. “In these difficult economic times, people frequent restaurants less and supermarkets more, just as they opt for less glamorous sex clubs."

Metje Blaak, spokeswoman for De Rode Draad (The Red Thread) sex workers' association, said clients were "paying less and demanding more."

"And the girls often have no choice but to discount their prices,” he said. “They have to pay the rent."

Clamping down

Though prostitution has long been tolerated in the famously liberal Dutch capital city, the Netherlands only legalised the world's oldest profession in 2000.