Eva, a 25-year-old prostitute in Amsterdam's red-light district, gestures angrily in the direction of a rival who has slashed her rates as the economic crisis emboldens sex tourists to haggle.

"People like her make it very difficult for the rest of us," scowled the tall, blonde Estonian in skimpy black-and-white lingerie as she dragged on a cigarette while posing for men passing the window in which she offers herself.

"Some of the girls are now doing it for 30 euros (A$70). My price is still 50 euros, but the men are playing us off against each other. Some want to pay only 20 euros," she said.

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 -- at 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. That is not money."