{"id":18003,"date":"2025-05-27T08:18:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T08:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.watanserb.com\/en\/?p=18003"},"modified":"2025-05-27T08:19:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T08:19:32","slug":"saudi-arabia-to-lift-alcohol-ban-in-tourist-zones-amid-backlash-over-identity-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.watanserb.com\/en\/2025\/05\/27\/saudi-arabia-to-lift-alcohol-ban-in-tourist-zones-amid-backlash-over-identity-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia to Lift Alcohol Ban in Tourist Zones Amid Backlash Over Identity Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watan<\/strong><\/em>-In a stunning religious and social shockwave, Western and Gulf media outlets have reported that Saudi Arabia is officially preparing to lift its long-standing ban on alcohol, a restriction in place since the kingdom\u2019s founding. The changes will apply to select tourist zones, most notably the NEOM megacity and luxury Red Sea coastal resorts.<\/p>\n

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According to The Sun (UK), Riyadh is actively working to establish designated “alcohol consumption areas” for foreign tourists and expatriates, as part of its ambitious Vision 2030 economic reform plan and its bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n

While framed in official rhetoric as a “purely commercial and tourism-driven decision”, the move has sparked a storm of outrage across social media, with many activists and citizens denouncing it as a religious retreat and an erosion of the Kingdom\u2019s Islamic identity, once proudly presented as the spiritual heartland of Muslims and home of the Two Holy Mosques.<\/p>\n

\"NEOM
NEOM project<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Historic Shift from Prohibition to Permission<\/h3>\n

The shift from criminalizing alcohol to partially licensing it coincides with a notable absence of Saudi religious scholars and the silence of the Council of Senior Scholars, which, in previous years, issued firm fatwas labeling alcohol \u201cthe mother of all evils.\u201d<\/p>\n

The irony lies in the regime\u2019s prior steps to weaken the religious police (the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue) and replace them with entertainment-focused ministries that promote \u201copenness and fun.\u201d These changes have been accompanied by the arrest of clerics and scholars critical of the new policies and a media narrative framing the shift as a \u201ccivilizational leap forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NEOM project,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Identity in Question<\/h3>\n

Many now wonder:<\/p>\n