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Date Published: 09/12/2021

ARCHIVED - Hospitality industry up in arms over potential smoking ban in Spain

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

The Ministry of Health in Spain wants to prohibit smoking on terraces

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Hospitality industry up in arms over potential smoking ban in Spain

Seven autonomous communities in Spain, including Valencia, have adopted the ‘Terrazas Sin Humo’ measure as a tool against Covid, which prohibits patrons from smoking on the outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants. Now, however, the government is preparing its ambitious law against tobacco that proposes, among other measures, to permanently introduce this rule across the country.

Understandably enough, the Hospitality Industry of Spain, which already feels targeted and mistreated by the administration, has strongly criticised the plan.

President of the association, Jose Luis Yzuel, has questioned the point of the measure.

“Is it that a man will not be able to smoke on a terrace but if he sits on a bench half a meter away, he will be able to? It's stupid", he concluded.

Mr Yzuel has argued that business owners are already perfectly entitled to not allow smoking on their terraces if they so wish, but said it “is quite another thing” to force the outright ban on publicans and restaurateurs.

“It is an approach of total hypocrisy and cynicism”, the president insisted. “On the one hand, the State collects hundreds of millions of euros in taxes and instead of raising awareness and respecting the freedom of companies, it prohibits”.

The measure to prohibit smoking on terraces is part of a battery of initiatives prepared by the Ministry of Health, which also supports banning smoking in private cars, the generic packaging of tobacco brands, raising taxes on tobacco products and restricting the use of e-cigarettes.

According to last year’s European Health Survey, 16.4% of women and 23.3% of men smoke daily in Spain while 20% of those aged 15 and over are confirmed smokers, well above the European average.

Image: Archive

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