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By Hugh Cameron
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Saudi Arabia appears to be slowly and quietly rolling back its near-blanket bans on alcohol consumption, signaling perhaps another instance of the Kingdom’s strict religious edicts yielding to its push for international appeal.
An “unmarked store” in the capital, Riyadh, has been discreetly selling alcohol to affluent foreigners, according to the New York Times, in violation of the rules that supposedly still govern the conservative state.
The store is challenging to locate, with no online presence and its existence only shared by word of mouth, but the Times reports that alcohol can be sold to those in possession of “premium residency.” This recently created program, intended to attract foreign nationals in sought-after professions, allows holders to enjoy greater freedoms than the traditional expat for 100,000 riyals per year or 800,000 riyals for an unlimited stay ($26,600 to $213,000).
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Days later, Bloomberg, citing those with knowledge of the matter, reported that to be admitted entry and drink in the store, residents must prove they have a monthly salary of over 50,000 riyals, or $13,300.
Newsweek contacted the Saudi foreign ministry for comment on Monday.
“This is certainly a notable shift if it will be followed up by more shops and a general change in policy,” said Toby Matthiesen, a political scientist specializing in the Middle East, Islam and Saudi politics.
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The location in Riyadh had in the past served diplomats, Matthiesen told Newsweek, who have been allowed to drink alcohol since 2024, when embassies were prohibited from importing their own liquor. And he said that this store now caters to others—though only the wealthy—does not itself signal a sea change in policy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), given its singular location in the Diplomatic quarter, which in certain regards functions like an extraterritorial enclave with acknowledged exemptions to some local customs.
But according to a report in France 24, citing anonymous sources familiar with the plans, two similar stores are soon set to open in the Kingdom, one in the port city of Jeddah and the other in Dhahran, located in a compound owned by the hydrocarbon giant Saudi Aramco.
Matthiesen believes there could be pragmatic reasons for Saudi Arabia loosening some of its theologically grounded alcohol laws, telling Newsweek there has been “a vast black market for alcohol for decades in Saudi Arabia," and that this may "simply be a way to try and crack down on the black market and make some money.”
But the change also appears to reflect an underlying current in Saudi politics.
“It may signal a 'testing the waters,”’ said Matthiesen, “as KSA seeks to attract more foreign residents and position itself as an entertainment and tourism hub.”
Saudi Arabia has been balancing religious conservativism with global expectations ever since opening the country up to international tourists in 2019, as it pursues a comprehensive strategy of economic diversification to prepare for a future where it can no longer rely solely on its natural resource endowment.
The Kingdom has relaxed dress codes for foreign visitors, begun permitting mixed-gender dining, and aimed to position itself as a new cultural hub for westerners to enjoy sporting events, concerts and comedy festivals—which the ever more coveted tourist may be less inclined to attend without the promise of an alcoholic beverage.
While no formal announcement has been made to update its longstanding alcohol ban, Andrew Leber of Tulane University said this is in line with the Kingdom’s past approach to such potentially impious reforms.
“This is similar to how Saudi authorities approached a lot of social policies,” the political scientist and KSA expert told the New York Times. “Allow relatively incremental changes under the surface without making a big announcement, giving them plausible deniability in case they want to pause or roll back the policy at some point.”
Like the neighboring United Arab Emirates, a fellow petrostate on its own quest of economic diversification, Saudi Arabia may be gently reshaping its approach to alcohol as it attempts to court more foreign tourists and garner greater international appeal.
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