Controversy over E-cigarette Ban: Impact on Hong Kong Tourism

According to a report by RTHK on June 14th, Lo Chung-mau, the Director of the Hong Kong Department of Health, dismissed concerns from lawmakers on Friday (14th) who feared that banning e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco would reduce Hong Kong's tourist appeal.

Last week, the Hong Kong government proposed 10 measures to reduce the number of smokers in the city, including a total ban on e-cigarettes and a ban on smoking while queuing.

During a legislative meeting, lawmaker Starry Lee expressed that Hong Kong could lose its competitiveness compared to other international financial centers that allow smoking, such as London. Local retail industry lawmaker Peter Shiu also stated that the smoking ban would deter tourists from visiting Hong Kong.

In response, Lo Chung-mau stated that people do not only come to Hong Kong, China to smoke. He explained, "The majority of tourists who come to Hong Kong, China are non-smokers. Non-smokers always outnumber smokers. They come to Hong Kong, China not just to smoke, but to seek business opportunities, experience our cuisine, and explore tourist attractions, among other things. Therefore, when we have a smoke-free, vibrant, and healthy Hong Kong, China, undoubtedly it is always better to have a smoke-free city.

Legislators are also concerned about limitations on law enforcement. Another legislative council member, Chan Pui-leung, from the Election Committee Industry, stated that the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office is short-staffed and the definition of queuing is unclear. Similarly, legislator Tommy Cheung from the catering industry suggested that the government should allocate more resources to educate young people about the dangers of smoking, instead of focusing solely on smoking bans.

Finally, the director added that creating a smoke-free Hong Kong requires not only enforcement of laws.

In fact, this not only relies on law enforcement, but also involves using relevant law enforcement measures to establish a culture, a norm, so that everyone will know which areas are smoke-free. At the same time, it can also be said that everyone is a smoking control ambassador.

He further added that the government's goal is to reduce the current smoking rate from 9.1% to 7.8% by next year.