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[Geronimo]

"It is a vote and the vote will stay there until it is endorsed like any other vote in the world," said Maitha Al Mahrooqi, undersecretary of Tourism.
"Oman is home to all types of nationalities and will remain so. As a country we welcome all types of religions and all types of workers and guests from all over the world," she further said.
"We respect their need for religious purposes or for their own purposes on a daily basis," she told reporters at the sidelines on the second day of the Seatrade Middle East Cruise Forum, which ended on Wednesday in Muscat.
She said, "Looking at Oman historically, it is open to all categories of people who can live here safely with Omanis and I believe this has been ongoing and will continue in years to come."
Regarding the approval by Majlis, she said it will be looked at and have minimum impact. "We may be putting more rules and regulations in terms of the services and qualities and not to ban it. That is what I can say at this stage," she said.
http://www.timesofoman.com/News/44093/Article-Oman-Majlis-Al-Shura-ban-on-alcohol-not-yet-endorsed-Mahrooqi

[Tazz]

For sure it's on its way....maybe already here?! Our local watering hole in the desert of Ibri have had their purchasing license suspended. It's a small 2 star hotel-The Oasis....but according to the Indian staff, there may be no more deliveries of alcohol, and when the current stock is gone-there will be no more! In reality it's exactly the kind of place that the new regulations are targeting-Omani's guzzling away like there's no tomorrow!

[1st Sgt Welsh]

[auhruh]

[Geronimo]

"Temperance activists may be happy but Suman Billa, a top civil servant in the tourism ministry, said the ban was a "major concern". "We take about a million international tourists every year for whom wine and beer is a part of their diet," he said. Along with holidaymakers' spending, the state has been raking in earnings from conferences and other business events at hotels.
"There's always a cocktail and dinner that goes along with it. So I think it would be particularly unattractive if we were to say: 'Do come, but sorry, we won't be able to serve you any alcohol'," Billa said. His fears were backed up by a recent survey from travel portal HolidayIQ, based on 5,000 Indian respondents, of whom 58 percent said the booze ban would affect their travel plans. Bar owners are hoping for an 11th-hour change to the policy and have taken the matter to court, fearing tourists will start opting for other regional destinations - perhaps the beaches of nearby Goa or Sri Lanka. However, with the government standing firm on the issue, they are only hopeful the law might be moderated somehow..."

Is this an excerpt from an article about the current situation in Oman?
No, it is concerned with the recent developments in the nearby State of Kerala...

"We've got a lot of competition," said G. Sudhiesh Kumar, chief executive at the Hotel Sea Face in Kovalam, which has already started getting cancellations from repeat European customers. Kumar worries that youngsters in Kerala's crucial IT sector may start looking for work in other regions, while investors will be spooked by the sudden change to the laws. "Who's going to come and invest his hard-earned money here in Kerala? That is the wrong message," he said.There is little denial of an alcohol problem in rum and brandy-loving Kerala, which has the highest consumption levels in India owing to its relatively high living standards, while the region also has a long tradition of home-brewing.
The Alcohol and Drug Information Centre, an NGO to prevent substance abuse, links 69 percent of crimes, 40 percent of road accidents and one in four hospitalisations to alcohol. "The women have been suffering, the homes have been suffering," said the centre's director Johnson J. Edayaranmula.
But even he believes the move to prohibition, although popular with most locals, has been ill thought through. "The government went into a hasty decision and they don't know what to do next," he said.
In Kovalam, many restaurants already do not go to the expense of paying for a licence and instead serve beer illegally in mugs, listing it as 'pop' on the bill. This clandestine system is now widely expected to grow, with money once headed for the government simply going into bribes. "People really like to drink here," said Cyril de Montaigu, a 31-year-old French backpacker, undeterred by the ban. "Prohibition never works, there's always an underground market..."

http://cooks.ndtv.com/article/show/high-and-dry-alcohol-ban-in-kerala-affecting-tourism-590325

As we know, many governments located all around the world - including our homelands' - are seeking the most effective policies to reduce the grave damage to their societies caused by excessive alcohol consumption.

For example, Gorbachev had a bash at it in the Russia of Soviet times...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3818525/

and Australia's government has strived to adopt an informed approach to strategy formulation...
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/drugstrategy/publishing.nsf/content/alc-strategy/$file/alcohol_strategy_back.pdf

Surely the future prospects of Omani youth warrant an informed and thought through approach to be adopted in the Sultanate, too.

Geronimo

[Tazz]

Interesting comparison -Kerala and Oman, in terms of the move to outlaw the legal supply of alcohol....on the one hand the governments must accept that maintaining and expanding their 'western' tourist markets requires that wine/beer is available in the hotels. The blinkered viewpoint- that tourists come here for the 'natural beauty of Oman' and alcohol availability is irrelevant in their choice of destination just doesn't cut it with me. On the other hand I can see how 'boozing' is a real problem with the locals. It's not even something that can be addressed-since alcohol is 'haram' how can a policy and education along the lines of 'drinking responsibly' be adopted?

[veiledsentiments]

[Geronimo]

Two new specialised drug rehabilitation centres are going to be built in Oman:
the first in Sohar, scheduled to open in 2017, and the second in Muscat...
http://www.timesofoman.com/News/32709/Article-Oman-rehab-to-open-As-addicts-increase

As a sizeable 31% of the current 4,079 "addicts registered" are addicted to alcohol, perhaps this "substance" will feature alongside of heroin and morphine in an educational program for the Omani youth in the not-too-distant future.

Geronimo

[Mushkilla]

veiledsentiments wrote:

Tazz wrote: It's not even something that can be addressed-since alcohol is 'haram' how can a policy and education along the lines of 'drinking responsibly' be adopted? Therein lies the rub. It is already against the law to sell booze to the Omanis... they could try enforcing that. Perhaps a Muslim version of AA to deal with the drinking problems? VS

The only Muslim version of AA to deal with Omani drinking problems is the Saudi version: 50 lashes for drinking Beer and 100 lashes for drinking Whisky!

[MuscatGary]

[1st Sgt Welsh]

[MuscatGary]

[Mushkilla]

[MuscatGary]

[Mushkilla]