[2] The app lists numerous gay bars, clubs, hotels, saunas, beaches and cruising spots which are indicated on the city map via GPS, with photos and additional information on venues also available.

[4][5][6][7] The guide was the creation of John D. Stamford, a businessman born in St Helens, Lancashire, in 1939; he had apparently trained at one point to be a priest.

During the following years, the magazine grew considerably, both in terms of size and sales figures, and became the most successful travel publication catering to gay men.

[11] Spartacus was later accused of engaging in racial stereotyping and fetishisation of "scantily-clad, non-white youths in exotic settings" and promoting gay sex tourism for both adult and child prostitutes.

[14] However, in April 1980, Stamford wrote an editorial entitled "The Rape of the Third World", which condemned the actions of a minority of Western gay sex tourists who behaved inappropriately with underage Filipino boys.

Stamford said he felt guilty about unleashing a 'mighty flood' of wealthy paedophiles in the Philippines and urged readers to avoid the country as 12 gay visitors were murdered in 1979.

[12] Stamford was also a firm supporter of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), a British organisation founded in 1974 that aimed to promote paedophilia as a valid sexuality.

[7] Meanwhile, concern about the guide's use by paedophiles had been growing for some years; as early as 1981, the children's rights charity Terre des hommes had raised this issue.

[37] In 1986, journalists with Britain's Sunday Times had travelled to the Philippines using one of the Spartacus Paedophile Vacations Holiday Help Portfolios, finding there a well-organised child prostitution ring.

[8][45][46][36] Bruno Gmünder continued publishing the Spartacus International Gay Guide annually, now shorn of all references to Stamford or paedophilia, until 2017.