Saudi Arabia has no plans to legalise alcohol — either at futuristic megacity Neom or in a bid to draw more visitors, assistant minister of tourism Princess Haifa bint Mohammed said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Princess Haifa said the kingdom has been “doing well” in attracting visitors since launching tourism e-visas in 2019 and that rules would remain “the same”.
“The short answer is that we’re going to continue with our current laws,” Princess Haifa said.
Possession, consumption or manufacture of alcohol is illegal in the kingdom.
“Saudi Arabia has been very transparent on where it stands on everything, we were very clear and we even heard it from our head of state on where we stand on serving alcohol”.
She insisted that the ban on alcohol had not affected tourism.
“We have been out outperforming globally in tourism with what we currently have to offer today.”
Saudi Arabia rose 10 places in the WEF’s 2021 Travel and Tourism Development Index, which measures sustainable and resilient development of the sector, and was released this week at the Davos summit.
The kingdom was placed second in the Middle East, behind the UAE.
Saudi Arabia opened up to holidaymakers in September 2019, with the launch of the tourist e-visit visa.
This proved popular, with more than 400,000 visas issued within the first 6 months.
“There’s a lot to go around without introducing anything new,” Princess Haifa said.
Earlier this month, Andrew McEvoy, head of the tourism sector at Neom, told The National that “alcohol is definitely not off the table” for the city.
“We need to be competitive, and to do that, we have to match what competing destinations are offering,” he said.
But while the Saudi government had not made any specific comment previously about the sale of alcohol, state media cited official sources denying Mr McEvoy’s claim.
They insisted that while there will be a slightly different legal framework for Neom as a special economic zone, the city will still be governed by the rules and regulations of the kingdom.
Asked in a recent interview about easing alcohol rules, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman declined to comment.
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Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
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Three stars
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Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and are now on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. Three-day and travel packages are also available at 20 per cent discount.
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Rasmi Ragy is a senior counsel at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Prosecutor in Egypt with more than 40 years experience across the GCC.
Education: Ain Shams University, Egypt, in 1978.
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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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The Al Barzakh Festival takes place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm in the Red Theatre, NYUAD, Saadiyat Island. Tickets cost Dh105 for adults from platinumlist.net
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