Qatar clamps down on booze, hurting vendors

Qatar's government has shut down the sale of alcohol in the affluent Pearl island development, popular with expats.

 Arabian Business, a regional business magazine, says Pearl restaurants are suffering a revenue slump of over 50 percent following the alcohol ban. One vendor told Arabian Business: 

“We don’t know if it is indefinite, there was nothing in writing or communicated to us as to how long it is going to last.” 

Qatar is an absolute monarchy that uses a hybrid of Islamic and civil law to govern the country. Alcohol consumption is illegal with few exceptions, which included the Pearl housing and shopping development, frequented by foreigners, and luxury hotels elsewhere on the Qatar peninsula.