Desk research against primary sources. Figures are traced to the issuing UAE authority and linked on the page.
The distinction that matters is venue, not intent: a licensed hotel bar or restaurant is where drinking is legal, and stepping outside that venue with a drink in hand — onto the street, the beach, or a park — turns a legal activity into an offence within a few metres. The visitor licence solves the purchase problem for off-trade shops, but it does not change where you are actually allowed to consume what you bought.
Get the visitor licence before you plan to need it rather than at the shop counter, since it is issued through an app rather than over a counter, and don't assume a hotel room counts as a licensed venue for the purposes of walking through public areas with a drink. Drunk in public is judged on the visible state you are in, not on where you started drinking, so plan how you get back to your room while sober enough to do so.
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