Restaurant and bar customers are to be asked whether they support a total ban on smoking.
From yesterday, restaurants with more than 200 seats had to provide one-third of the area as smoke-free. There is a $5,000 fine for non-compliance.
There are more than 400 such large restaurants in Hong Kong. Smaller restaurants are exempt from the rule.
But the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, a government advisory body, said it would push for a raising of the quota or a total ban if there was enough public support.
'We aim to carry out a new survey in two to three months to see if there is enough support among the public,' executive director Marcus Yu Yin-sum said.
Government figures showed only 15 per cent of the population smoked, Mr Yu said, so an outright ban would not necessarily affect business.