What Not To Do In Dubai As a Tourist

Visiting Dubai can be a perilous business, as Jamie Harron, a Briton arrested for public indecency three months ago, has discovered. According to him, it was once a pure misunderstanding: he put his hand on anybody to keep away from spilling his drink whilst he squeezed through a crowded bar. customs of a city that – for all its glitzy cosmopolitanism – is a fairly conservative, Muslim state. 

Although out of jail, Harron has not been allowed to leave Dubai and has run up hefty criminal bills. His appalled parents have urged different vacationers to avoid the city. That appears unnecessary, given that nearly 10 million travellers visited the emirate remaining year besides any problems. But it is sensible to hold a few matters in thinking before you e book your ticket.
In 2007, a Japanese engineer suffered the indignity of being arrested at Dubai airport after customs officials located seventy seven pornographic DVDs in his luggage. The equal year, DJ Raymond Bingham – aka Grooverider – was sentenced to 4 years in jail for having a few forgotten grams of hashish in a pair of trousers. He served a element of his detention center time period earlier than receiving a exclusive pardon.

In 2014, a 16-year-old Indian boy was once arrested for carrying 1/2 a kilo of poppy seeds which his mom intended to cook dinner with.

Dress appropriately
Women are predicted to costume modestly in public, with arms and legs utterly covered. Shopping department shops will regularly broadcast bulletins reminding people of the costume code, which is closely enforced. Swimwear is ideal only on seashores and at motel pools, and topless sunbathing is forbidden – seventy nine humans were arrested for it throughout a 2008 crackdown on the country’s beaches. 

Men must also watch their wardrobe: in 2008 police arrested 40 “cross-dressing tourists”, in accordance to the Gulf News.

Don't devour in public
It is forbidden to devour or drink in public during the daytime hours of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, regardless of whether or not or not you are Muslim. At least one foreign couple has been fined for slurping juice at a petrol station. However, the rules are commonly bent at hotels; during Ramadan, they will often display off their restaurants so foreign guests can consume barring upsetting anyone.

Get married
By law, solely married couples are allowed to have sex, or even share a bed, in Dubai. In practice, inns do now not ask for proof of your relationship when you check in with your partner. However, the authorities do take the be counted seriously. Appallingly, in 2016 a British girl used to be arrested for having extramarital sex after reporting to police that she had been raped by using a crew of men. 

Beware who you tell if you're gay
Dubai’s authorities are not in the enterprise of looking out for gay tourists to arrest, even although gay sex is illegal. Campaign group Detained in Dubai says there is a “vibrant underground gay scene in Dubai”, however it advises discretion. 

Avoid PDA
Kissing and keeping palms in public is considered to be “inappropriate behaviour”, in accordance to guidelines posted by way of the government (which also warned towards taking part in loud song and dancing). In 2005, a British couple acquired a one-month reformatory sentence for kissing in a restaurant after a nearby female complained.