If you’re a recently separated or divorced woman of a certain age, your newly single status, coupled with the long winter and chilly early spring, may have turned your thoughts to a summer holiday somewhere hot and far away from your domestic troubles.

For a growing number of British women, this means jetting off to countries such as Turkey, Egypt, the Gambia and Kenya. Not for the historical culture and glorious scenery, but for the male “totty”.

According to a new book called Romance on The Road, by confessed former “sex tourist” Jeannette Belliveau, the problem of middle-aged-to-elderly women having flings with young, fit, dark-skinned young men is becoming endemic. It’s a problem, she claims, because such liaisons invariably lead, at the very least, to disappointment and can even result in death. “In the past two years, three Western women have been killed for their money by their foreign ‘toy boys’,” she says.

The number of older women who form long-term relationships with holiday gigolos is increasing every year. Even though some culminate in marriage, statistically a third of all cross-cultural weddings end in divorce.

According to Jeannette, women who get lured into such sultry romances are “unbelievably naïve”. These men, by and large, are interested only in the women’s money and the prospect of gaining a UK visa. Many are from impoverished families, eking out a living as waiters or tour guides, and view Western women old enough to be their mothers as rich pickings.

If you have just gone through a traumatic divorce and your self-esteem has taken a battering, it could be all too easy to fall for the “you are so beautiful” line delivered with practised panache by a swarthy 20-something who gives every impression of worshipping the ground you walk on.

I understand completely why an educated, worldly-wise woman in her 40s or 50s might fall for such seductive patter. She’s exhausted after a lengthy divorce process and fears no one will ever find her attractive again. What better tonic than to have a harmless holiday fling with a youthful Adonis?

Except that many such flings are not harmless: you run the risk of contracting Aids or other sexually transmitted diseases; you could be fleeced of your savings/divorce settlement and have your heart broken in the process.

So, despite the obvious attractions, I urge you to stick to sightseeing on holiday this summer.