Costa del Sol business owners resoundingly reject future law that will ban smoking on bar

Source: RSS de noticias de Surinenglish

The new law banning people from smoking on the terraces of bars and restaurants in Spain has not yet been approved, but it has already generated a wide debate in society and a resounding rejection among the hospitality sector on the Costa del Sol and across Malaga province. The anti-smoking draft bill prepared by the Ministry of Health, which was preliminary approved on 9 September in the council of ministers, has united hoteliers and business owners in the hospitality industry in an appeal “to entrepreneurial freedom”.

The bill is yet to receive the backing of parliamentary majority. Among the foreseen changes are the ban on smoking in outdoor spaces and the ban on vapes, as they will be considered the same as cigarettes.

Without going into health issues or assessing the benefits that such a measure would have for collective health, the different sectors have been categorically against this measure, considering the economic and social damage that it would generate. They consider that it would not only affect the turnover of the establishments but would also put waiters in a complicated situation, as they would have to act as police officers. In addition, the professionals believe that the ban will only take people to the streets, where they will leave litter after smoking.

The first to express their concern have been those in the hospitality. They have spread a message of calm reminding the public that the measure is not yet in force and that, once approved, transitional periods of at least one year are envisaged until its definitive entry into force. “In short: there are no applicable regulatory changes yet,” they said.

President of the association of hospitality businesses Javier Frutos considers the measure to be “disproportionate” and believes that it will not reduce consumption, but rather displace it to other less convenient areas. “Customers will go out into the street to smoke, giving rise to disorderly behaviour on public roads and even disturbing passersby,” he said.

Frutos said that Spain already has restrictive regulations and that the terraces are an orderly space “where the coexistence between smokers and non-smokers has been proven”. According to him, establishing even more interventionist measures will generate confusion among tourists and will affect competitiveness with respect to other destinations where there are no such measures, such as Portugal, Italy, France or Greece. “It is not an issue that generates interest among the public,” he stated.

Beach traders

President of the Costa del Sol beach business association Manuel Villafaina shares a similar opinion. According to him, the current law is already quite restrictive and any modification will not only be detrimental to businesses. “Banning smoking on the terraces will cause customers to go out a metre away and fill the promenade or the beach with cigarette butts,” he said. He believes that the terraces are already set up so that people who smoke and those who don’t can coexist. “If they are out in the open air, it is normal that people should be allowed to smoke,” he said.

The association of Costa del Sol hoteliers (Aehcos) appeals to the freedom of each business owner to decide what is best for their establishment. Its vice-president, Javier Hernández, considers that any ban greater than the one currently in force would directly affect businesses. Not only that, but it would cause unwanted problems. “Workers would have to act as police, because the fines would go to the employer and not to the person who smokes. This could lead to clashes between workers and customers.”

A ‘harmful’ measure

The professional association of retailers in Malaga province is also very critical. Its president, Susana Torres, considers that the future law “is extremely harmful for both the hospitality and tobacco sectors”. “It cuts people’s freedom because not being able to smoke practically in the street is an aberration,” she stated. Professionals in her sector complain that they have always been persecuted by the Ministry of Health, which is why she does not understand the double standard. “If they want to ban it, they should do it from the root, but that is not going to be done because the State gets a lot of money in taxes. So what’s all the fuss about?” She believes that the solution is as simple as appealing to the civic-mindedness of everyone. “You have to have a minimum code of ethics and you could divide the smoking from the non-smoking area, but certainly not ban it,” she concluded.

President of Malaga province business owners association Javier González de Lara also finds loopholes in the future measure. “We share the objective and, of course, that work is being done to preserve people’s health, but we believe that the approach is disproportionate,” he said. He considers that it puts the focus on companies and “burdens the hotel and catering industry with a responsibility for monitoring tobacco consumption that does not fall within its remit”. For this reason, he believes that this issue “should be approached through dialogue and consensus with economic and social agents, not in a way that imposes taxes”.

The original article: https://www.surinenglish.com/malaga/resounding-rejection-hoteliers-and-businessmen-malaga-the-20250917075608-nt.html belongs to RSS de noticias de Surinenglish .