Bavarian beer in Dubai?

Curious plans for alternative Oktoberfest Justin Huggler

If a group of German businessmen get their way, Oktoberfest could be held in Dubai instead of Bavaria this year, because of the coronavirus crisis.

The Munich beer festival is widely expected to be cancelled for the second year running in Germany, thanks to the pandemic. The idea of men in lederhosen and women in dirndls dancing to oompah bands and knocking back beer by the litre in an Islamic country may sound outlandish, but the promoters behind it insist they’ve got it covered.

They say the whole thing will take place in 32 tents at a 10-acre festival site near the Dubai marina, complete with fairground rides modelled on the original, and claim major celebrities will be flown in to join the fun.

Alcohol will be permitted at the site and festival goers will be whisked to and from their hotels in special shuttle buses to avoid any scenes of drunkenness on the streets.

It is illegal to be under the influence of alcohol in any public place in Dubai, and in theory offenders can face six months in jail and a pounds $1,700 fine — although police often turn a blind eye.

“An Oktoberfest in Dubai? That’s like a demonstration for democracy in Pyongyang,” Clemens Baumgartner, the head of the Munich Oktoberfest, told Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Oktoberfest in Dubai is the brainchild of three German promoters who have run beer tents and attractions at the Munich Oktoberfest, although none of them are members of the main organizing committee for the original festival.

Christian Blume, one of the three promoters, told German radio the idea came to him and a colleague “over a bottle of Bavarian beer in Dubai.”

There has been no official comment from the United Arab Emirates government, but Blume says he has an agreement in principle. Serving beer will be no problem, he says. Alcohol sales are only permitted in hotels and private clubs in Dubai, but the festival site will reportedly be classed as the latter.

Nor should revealing dirndl dresses be too much of an issue in a country where many women wear the hijab. Dubai has long made accommodations with international tourism, and bikinis are permitted on many of the beaches.

But there could be other issues for would-be festival goers. For one thing, the legal drinking age in Dubai is 21. Indeed, anyone visiting the festival will also have to be wary of strict laws against public displays of affection — kissing in public can result in a jail sentence. And, as one writer pointed out in Bild, homosexuality is illegal. Despite all that, the promoters believe they can attract 4 million visitors a month to the desert Oktoberfest over six months.

The Munich Oktoberfest attracts 6.5 million visitors a year — but it only runs for two weeks.