Maybe () the bars/restaurants will swallow most of that 100% increase (as happened in Qatar) but the booze shops won’t/can’t. It will all end in tears.

From memory, around OMR22 in Spinneys for a carton of Marlboro Silver Blue last week.

You’re welcome - and I concur! As an aside, the last two times we’ve come into Muscat through the airport they haven’t had any Silver Blue in the duty free shop. Plenty of all the other Marlboro cigarettes and other brands but no Silver Blue. Don’t know if it will interest you but there’s also a very small “Deli” full of freezers stocked with pork products. Stock is a bit hit and miss but it’s definitely cheaper than the stuff you can get in the pork rooms in Spinneys and they pack it in one of those thermal bags for you to take home.

Another thing to think about. Make sure that you get a “proper” visa. Have a friend who came over last year working in oil & gas as a senior Ops Manager for a large company (not going to mention any names). His employer got him an “off the shelf” visa which said he was an electrician. This meant that he was unable to get a liquor licence despite being able to provide evidence of salary. As in the UAE employees need an NOC and salary letter from their employer to be able to apply for a licence.

This was a very legit company but they outsourced their HR/visa stuff to an agency and that was the result. Anyway, the job was cr@p (trying to sort out previous c0ck-ups) and our friend jacked it in just before the end of the probationary period. Good luck with your negotiations!