Saudi Arabia To Allow Alcohol Sales for First Time in 73 Years in Bid To Attract Global Visitors

Adventure-seeking tipplers may want to get their visas lined up, as Saudi Arabia has announced it will permit alcohol sales in 600 destinations across the Kingdom frequented by tourists for the first time since the 1950s.Aiming to up its annual foreign visitor count and modernize the country’s illiberal image, the kingdom said that it will begin limited sales of alcohol, previously forbidden in the nation, beginning in 2026. Individuals will be permitted to drink wine, beer, and cider at sit-in locations. Spirits with alcohol content higher than 20 percent will still be forbidden.The relaxation of alcohol sales, prohibited under Saudi Arabia’s strict Sharia laws, aligns with the launch last week of a new Saudi platform, TOURISE. The project aims to “reimagine the future of tourism” by making Saudi Arabia an attractive destination for foreign travelers, and is focused on increasing technology, sustainability, and workforce development in the kingdom.“Tourism is one of the most dynamic, connective forces in the world’s economy, supporting one in ten jobs globally,” Saudi’s Minister of Tourism, Ahmed al-Khateeb said in a press statement. He described the new platform as an opportunity to “unite the right people to develop innovative solutions and build partnerships, enabling the tourism sector to be more resilient, connected, and inclusive than ever before.”TOURISE contains an advisory board of executives from major names in tourism, including Cirque de Soleil, Heathrow Airport, and the World Travel and Tourism Council.In 2023, Saudi Arabia exceeded its 2019 goal to generate more than one hundred million tourist visits per year by 2030. That included primarily domestic tourists, but in 2024, 30 million foreign visitors, 36,626 of whom arrived for the hajj pilgrimage from Europe, traveled to the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula, lifting the tourism sector to the nation’s second largest industry behind oil production. Among the tourism attractions for international travelers is a new Six Flags, a Formula One racetrack, and the LIV golf league led by PGA champion Greg Norman. Saudi Arabia will also host the FIFA World Cup in 2034, though Saudi officials reportedly will not allow alcohol consumption in the stadiums. As recently as February, the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, Khalid bin Sultan, said no alcohol would be available in the country during the World Cup.The recent upgrades to its tourism industry follows President Trump’s visit to Riyadh earlier this month as part of a broad initiative to reboot American-Saudi relations strained during the president’s first administration.Already, dozens of American firms are building regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia as visa restrictions free up. Saudi Arabia recently announced a deal with NASA to launch its first weather satellite. American and Saudi naval forces completed nautical exercises in the gulf this weekend.The kingdom, which must contend with Iranian-backed Houthis on its flank in Yemen, has also been a leader in the Abraham Accords, seeking to normalize relations with Israel. This week the foreign ministry publicly condemned the murder of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C.On Sunday, an American delegation of House representatives wrapped up meetings with Saudi officials. “Greater economic and military cooperation will ensure peace, prosperity, and stability for decades to come,” the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee on the Middle East Congressman Mike Lawler, posted on X.But even with attempts to modernize its economy and its image, the country is still ranked as one of the worst human rights abusers in the world. Freedom House lists Saudi Arabia as the eighth worst country for freedom, with no elected officials at the national level, a high rate of executions for offenses such as exercising free speech and drug use, and little academic freedom or personal autonomy. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, who has been leading the kingdom since 2017, is making some reforms, including allowing women to drive and enter the workforce, and implementing his Vision 2030 plan, an economic diversification and modernization strategy that has seen improvements for citizens including increased home ownership, better health care, and higher life spans.“By opening up the country to tourism and having more interaction between cultures in the outside world. There is going to be a natural liberalization that occurs, and the Saudis are well aware of that,” a counterextremism researcher with Capital Research Center, who leads tours in Saudi Arabia, Ryan Mauro tells the Sun. “And this plan is basically the talk of the town. Everywhere I go in Saudi Arabia, this Vision 2030 … is really the hope of the Saudi youth, ad so MBS has to deliver on it because he’s tied it so closely to his own persona.”Alcohol sales for Saudi Muslims will still be prohibited. Penalties include fines and imprisonment.

Saudi Arabia To Allow Alcohol Sales for First Time in 73 Years in Bid To Attract Global Visitors

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