Abstract. – Based on the assumption that the new social spaces created by mass tourism are central catalysts of ongoing transformation processes in culture and society, this article explores heterosexual intimate relationships between long-distance travellers and locals in diverse tourism destinations of the “Global South.” By contrasting current transnational gender relations with hitherto prevailing encounters in the frame of “sex tourism” and specifying them with a selection of empirical studies, we point at current changes in the relation of global tourism and sexuality. The article finally aims at outlining a theoretically and methodologically informed strategy of analysis as tool for a critical, feminist approach to the highly modified reality in touristic spaces, behaviour, and routine. [Caribbean, Brazil, sex/love/romance tourism, informal sextourism, intersectionality, feminist methodology]