More than half the city's entertainment premises will be forced to shut down if the full smoking ban comes into effect as scheduled in July, industry representatives have claimed.
But the government says it has no plans to postpone the measure.
The Entertainment Business Rights Concern Group - which represents all bars, nightclubs, sauna parlours, clubs with mahjong rooms and mahjong-tin kau premises - yesterday urged the government to exempt the industry from the law.
'The industry's business has already gone down by 30 per cent because of the financial crisis. And about 90 per cent of their customers are smokers,' chairwoman Lillian Chan Yun-lin said. 'The government will be putting us to death if it implements the ban.'
Smoking was banned in most indoor places two years ago. Temporarily exempted, entertainment premises are due to fall into line on July 1.
Tobacco Control Office head Ronald Lam Man-kin said the government had no plan to postpone implementation. 'The government is taking measures to help business operators adapt and enforce the law,' he said.
Further delay would subject already smoke-free businesses to unfair competition, and the law would benefit the health of staff and customers, he said. The office would boost enforcement of the law by adding 15 inspectors to the existing team of 85 in the coming year.
