Tourist businesses support no-smoking bylaw

Stakeholders in Bali’s tourism industry, including representatives of local hotels, restaurants and amusement centers, say they will back a new provincial bylaw on smoking-free zones.

The bylaw, passed by the Bali Legislative Council on Monday, bans smoking in hotels, restaurants, tourist areas, places of worship, healthcare facilities, schools, playgrounds, offices, terminals, airports and amusement centers, as well as traditional and contemporary markets.

Ida Bagus Sidharta Putra, chairman of the Denpasar chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), said many local hotels and restaurants had established smoke-free zones, especially in air-conditioned rooms, long before the bylaw was passed.

The Bali Health Agency will certify that hotels comply with the bylaw. Hotels must designate no-smoking zones with signs and install smoke detectors, while providing designated smoking areas in gardens, lobbies and other public places.

“We don’t have any problem with the bylaw. We fully support it and hope it will be enforced properly,” Sidharta said.

“We will also be ready if we need to add more places that should be smoke-free and if we need to impose fines on offenders.”

Feriani Chung, spokeswoman for the 101 Hotel, and Dewi Karmawan, the spokeswoman for the Anantara Hotel, also voiced support for the bylaw, saying that their hotels had already established designated smoking areas, along with smoke-free zones in parking lots, lobbies and guest rooms, although the hotels’ bars were currently “smoking zones”.

“We support this bylaw for health and convenience reasons. Besides, forbidding people to smoke will ease the maintenance of our property,” Feriani said, adding that tobacco smoke frequently soiled room linen and air conditioner filters.

Dewi said that the regulation would affect hotel workers and guests. “We will impose sanctions on workers who violate the regulation. As for the guests, we will not hesitate to reprimand them,” she said, adding that the smoke-free areas were a worldwide trend that the hotel’s guests were familiar with.

Tengara Swaratama, the promotion manager of Hard Rock Cafe Bali, said the cafe would establish smoke-free zones after it completed renovations scheduled to start next year. “Indoor areas will be 100 percent free of cigarette smoke. Guests might still be allowed to smoke in more open areas, such as the balcony.”

Tengara said the Hard Rock would still partner with cigarette companies to market new products, although it would bow out of direct sales.

“We are very selective concerning this matter. We are optimistic this regulation will instead attract more guests, because this is for health reasons,” he said.