Ever since the smoking-ban law 174 went into effect on September 3, there’s been an ongoing debate on whether this decision will affect negatively the restaurants and pubs or not. For that sake, the Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants in Lebanon came up with a study conducted by Ernest & Young that proves that indoor smoking ban will harm the economy, only to be refuted few days later by the AUB Tobacco Control Research Group and activists from Lebanese civil society.
I will not bother dig into those studies again as they don’t reflect what’s happening on the ground, at least not from what I’ve seen in the past two months. In fact, all the restaurants that serve Shisha that I’ve been to lately were almost entirely empty indoors and packed outside and to name few, Babel, Saniour Sea View, Leila, Republic, Public, Al Falamanki, Saif el Ba7er and Basma. As for restaurants that don’t serve Shisha, those with an outdoor area had a clear advantage and attracted more clients, with few exceptions like Roadster diner that wasn’t really affected by this law. Pubs I’ve been recently were just like in this video I posted yesterday.
Therefore, the effect the smoking-ban law had on restaurants and pubs is rather visible but that doesn’t mean we should not keep it as it is or protest against the ban in the way the syndicate is doing. Raising slogans like “are you sick of smoking outside already?” is rather stupid and will only weaken their demands. On the other hand, the government is properly enforcing the law in Beirut and Mount Lebanon but failing to do so in remote areas and in some governmental buildings and offices.
Having said all that, should the law be amended? In my opinion, yes and I will explain why.
1- As I had explained in previous posts, the problem in Lebanon is not the cigarette but the Shisha because there is no such thing as a smoking lounge in Lebanon, but there are a lot of restaurants that people frequent just to smoke Shisha. Those Shisha places are very popular nowadays and also attract a lot of Arab Tourists, which is why they should be given some special license to operate legally as a Shisha lounge. Nevertheless, the licenses should be limited and a pre-condition for those thinking of starting a new Arguile place.
2- The decision to ban smoking should have been delayed by few months as it came at the worst moment for all businesses, specially after the weak touristic season we had. If the government insists that no amendments should be done to the law, they can always put the implementation on hold until after the winter season ends.
3- Even in the most advanced countries, licenses are given for smoking lounges, so I don’t see why it shouldn’t happen here. If some people insist on smoking, let them all go to a place dedicated to smokers only. That way, they will only be harming themselves.
4- Implementing the smoking-ban law should have been done gradually, and not all at once. Even though there was a year notice, but I believe no one was prepared for that law and the government didn’t make any effort in that matter. For example, the simplest thing to do would have been stopping new Shisha places from opening during that year, which did not happen.
This has been said before, but I’m gonna say it again:
All over the (civilized) world, smoking indoor is banned, and people still go to restaurants and night clubs. The difference in Lebanon is that people have the expectation that any law can be either broken or amended, this is why they are not taking this one seriously.
If ALL venues cooperate, nothing will happen to the economy, but when you see venues allowing smoking indoors, that’s when people will pick and choose where to go, thus hurting venues who are respecting this law.
Bilal,
You also have smoking lounges in the civilized world so that’s not really an issue. I repeat the problem is Chicha places and not pubs and restaurants.
You cannot possibly ask all venues to cooperate, specially when one has wasta and allows smoking and the other doesnt.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree that Lebanon needs specific “smoking” lounges for shisha or cigarettes, but granting licenses is tricky, especially in Lebanon, anyone would want to apply for those, don’t forget the amount of wasta anyone can pull to do anything.
This is how I see it, family restaurants like Roadster, etc, and pub/clubs should never allow smoking. Shisha cafés can do whatever they want.
I agree and this is what I am saying. Licenses for the Shisha places only and for the ones currently open not for new ones.
What are the “smoking lounges”? I live in a city where the so called smoking lounges are simply an outdoor section of the pub or restaurant, more like a balcony, where people go to smoke. We get several months of snow in winter, and people go out to some in freezing cold, so cold that if you don’t cover your ears, they fall off!
Well, Lebanese are already sick of …. what a rubbish! They should dissolve the syndicate at once!
I live in Edmonton, Canada, and we get winters of -35C, and yet smokers still go outside to smoke. But in some places, called smoking lounges, people who go there, go only to smoke (cigars, fancy cigarettes, etc)
I think they should ban all smoking all together..Like Toronto is contemplating. You can’t even smoke in the parking lot of some malls! Ban the damn thing. It costs us billions in health spending!
Najib, let the freaking Gulf Arabs smoke in their countries! Is that the rationale on keeping these smoking parlors?
About time Lebanese get a culture change towards civilization and away from pretentious and nonsense!
I agree on banning smoking altogether, but it’s all about the money, if it wasn’t a multi-billion dollar industry you would have seen it banned by now.
Gianni,
I am for the whole ban but as I said, it should be done gradually not just like that. The first step would be banning the cigarette and giving special licenses to already existing shisha lounges. That should be accompanied with an increase in prices of the cigarette and Shisha, then a year later lounges will start shrinking due to the high prices of Shisha and you will end up with only a handful of them. I know for a fact the incredibly high prices of cigarettes are an important reason for people refraining from smoking in Canada and elsewhere.
As for tourists, Arab tourists have always been essential to the Lebanese economy and you have to take their needs into consideration in a way. The Shisha is part of the Arab culture whether we like it or not and u can’t just ban it overnight and that’s it.
they cant do it gradually because there is a goal for WHO to reduce cancer and heart diseases by 25% worldwide, but we do not have time and the agreement was set in 2005, for example france started in 1991 implementing gradually before the agreement, but wasnt their goal to implement it gradually, studies showed that it was working and the damage was still the same so they applied full smoking ban law
they cant do it gradually because there is a goal for WHO to reduce cancer and heart diseases by 25% in 2020
najib; we have discussed this issue before and I agree about gradual easing in and increase in taxation of tobacco products…except when you bring up “Arab tourists” and “Arab culture”…If the only reason they are coming to Lebanon is to go to the Sheesha parlors; they should go to another country! Lebanon has oodles to offer and if these “Arab tourists” like to smoke up a sheesha they can always do it in their own house…or outdoor cafes during the summer. What’s the benefit a few thousand Arab sheesha craving tourists in dollar value between December and March (indoor smoking) that could bust up the economy?
Gianni,
I stated many factors, among which the Arab tourists and non-Arabs for that sake who like to smoke Shisha when they come here. Nevertheless, the Shisha cafes have become very popular because of the Lebanese who frequent them all the time. You have thousands of those cafes, including large streets pilled with Shisha cafes like in Antelias or Amaret Chalhoub etc …
Imagine that in a 200 meters street in Antelias, you have between 10 and 15 Shisha restaurants.
Badoun “yfouto ychemo el hawa”
Well gr8!
Nehna fina nodhar nekoul hawa! Next year’s marsthon will be filled with argiles w smokers!
The smoking ban issue is getting ridiculous! I am certain people are not gonna just sit home all winter long cause they can’t smoke indoors in public.
As said above, people in very cold countries, just step outside for a smoke.
And for the shisha places specifically… ok, they can figure out something, but I have often seen restaurants placing those giant lamp like heaters outside where people continue to enjoy their shishas almost all through the winter (save for a few very cold/ rainy days).
Khalass ba2a!
I am not a smoker and I hate smoking. I am for the smoking-ban law but not with the way it has been applied.
1- They had a one year prep time to get ready, but no one took it seriously. ok, it’s their problem, but yet, as Najib said, at the time it was implemented, it was terrible and should have been done progressively and it’s not the end of the world if they offer a 6 months or more as an additional time to get ready! (although I still dont see how the additional time will make ever make them ready)
2- I didnt see most of the pubs and restaurants affected by this law, all of them are crowded, well slightly less maybe for some, but definitely not in a way that it would cause all this economy breakdown.
They can simply open places just for smoking.
3- It is really weird how this law is being blamed for all the economy negative repercussions. It had some effects, fine, but not that much. I wonder how these studies which are being made by highly regarded companies or societies are ending to very different conclusions on the same topic?!! it pushes me to think if they can be trusted or if are they just driven by money.
4- What about all the other problems that led to this economy crisis as well? what about all the other flaws that we have such as the amazingly terrible customer service in most of the shops nowadays?! Najib, I think you should really dedicate a post about this and just invite everyone to share their experiences, as am sure that you’ll get tons of it.
Most of the shops are hiring people who are not qualified to do customer service, either students or not even educated, just because they need to get paid and are not able to get better jobs, and this allows the shops not to give them good salaries, which at the end affect the motivation of their staff and they end up giving crappy service to the clients!!
P.S.: just as a small comment, remember that post you made about the cultural house at sodeco, yesterday I saw a group of french-looking group of people with cameras and documents, getting ready to go inside the building to inspect it probably, so I guess they are really about to start working on it finally!
French-looking people? What a Lebanese-sounding comment.
Do like in Germany! Allow smoking in bars not serving food, clearly posted outside, and keep restaurants smoke free. Easy and everyone is happy.