Smokers forced to stub out as Hong Kong ban goes into effect

Jul 1, 2009, 2:52 GMT

   Hong Kong - Smokers in Hong Kong woke up Wednesday with a bitter taste in their mouths as lighting up in nearly all public places was banned.

   The smoking ban first introduced in January 2007 was extended to bars, nightclubs and even clubs where the traditional Chinese game of mahjong is played, leaving addicts with few places to smoke except home.

   Anyone caught smoking in the banned places faces a fine of up to 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (645 US dollars) from a team of Tobacco Control officers who have collared nearly 14,000 offenders in the past two years.

   The extension of the ban, which first affected mostly workplaces and restaurants, follows a long fight by lobby groups to postpone the blanket ban on smoking because of the economic downturn.

   They fear thousands of bar and nightclub workers will be driven out of their jobs as customers stay away because of the extended ban, which came into effect at midnight on July 1, and have appealed for a delay because of the economic slump.

   The city's Bar and Club Association claims around 90 per cent of customers are smokers and say the ban will have a devastating impact on the industry.

   Hong Kong's leading anti-smoking campaigner, Judith Mackay, said same argument was made about restaurants before the 2007 ban, but those revenues had in fact risen.

The government estimates that around 677,000 people in the city of 7 million people are daily or occasional smokers, a considerably lower percentage than in neighboring mainland China.