Persons 18 years of age and above will now be allowed to purchase liquor within licensed premises after a cabinet decision today.

The decision was made based on a submission by the Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who said the limitation which saw the sale of liquor only allowed the sale and supply of liquor to persons 21years and over, however this should be relaxed so that it can be more consistent with other pieces of legislation.

Sayed-Khaiyum in his submission noted that a person can legally get married at the age of 18, pay taxes, be recruited in the security agencies and obtain a drivers license. He also highlighted that the tourism sector is greatly affected by the restriction as most of our visitors are from countries which have a drinking age of 18yrs or lower, thus the 21yrs old restriction becomes unreasonably prohibitive for them, and does not augur well for the tourism industry in this respect.

Sayed-Khaiyum said apart from reducing the age upon which persons can frequent licensed premises and be legally sold liquor, the amendment also allows for more consistency within the Act itself and brings us up to par with countries from where we get the majority of our tourists from.