Before July 1, 2010 when new anti-smoking regulations are to come into effect in the Czech Republic owners of Prague’s pubs and restaurants will have to chose one of the three available statuses for their establishments – smoking allowed mode, non-smoking or mixed mode. The last one is designed for those joints that have physically isolated space for smokers. According to the new regulations the smoking/ non-smoking mode is to be clearly stated at the entrance with help of special stickers.
In connection with this number of non-smoking pubs and restaurants can noticeably increase, at least in the Czech’s capital city. The president of the United Association of hotels and restaurants Pavel Hlinka holds such opinion. Judging by results of discussions with his collegues, he reckons that about a half of total number of establishments will select non-smoking mode, because "in bigger cities there is usually more modern attitude towards these things in comparison to the countryside”.
Director of the United coalition against tobacco Catherine Langerová backs up his opinion: "Since the beginning of this year, we have witnessed an increased number of non-smoking establishments registered at our website. While at the beginning of the year there were roughly 600 of them, up to today we registered 852 non-smoking establishments all over the country".
The survey conducted at AktuálnÄ›.cz website demonstrated that owners of less expensive pubs tend to think that smoking should not be prohibited. The same opinion is held by owners of drinking establishments located at small towns and in the countryside. Mr. Hlinka commented upon this: "The situation in the countryside and smaller cities is very different from what we see in Prague. It is safe to assume that pubs that allow smoking will be dominating in these areas for many years."
The survey results also showed that a lot of pubs and restaurants owners still made no decision. All the more so that the new regulations are not so strict as it may seem. For instance, it does not require smoking ban until evening as it was during the Communist years. The only strict requirement is obigation to state smoking/ non-smoking mode. Many European countries already introduced much more severe measures against smoking at public areas.
Date: 24/03/2010
Folgen auf Facebook oder Google+
No comments