Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Health

04/11/2011

Post-Cigarette Mini-Boom

Catering Sales Rise Despite Anti-Smoking Laws

A no-smoking sign at Munich's Oktoberfest

dapd

A no-smoking sign at Munich's Oktoberfest

Critics of smoking bans in Germany have long argued that cafes and bars will see business slump if customers can't light up. But figures from the catering trade tell a different story. Customers, it seems, don't mind going outside to have a smoke.

The arrival of smoking bans has not deterred people from spending money in German cafes and bars, figures from the catering trade show.

Contrary to claims by breweries, the catering industry and tobacco firms, the imposition of smoking bans in German states has not dampened sales.

The southern state of Bavaria, for example -- which has the strongest anti-smoking laws in Germany -- has seen catering industry sales rise by 1.5 percent in the second half of 2010, versus the same period a year earlier. In contrast, bars and restaurants in North Rhine-Westphalia, the German state with a range of means exempting smokers from bans, has seen its catering trade income sink by 3.1 percent in the same time span.

The prevalence of loopholes in North Rhine-Westphalia is illustrated by the city of Essen, where only a third of its 362 bars are smoke free. Many of the bars and cafes have found ways to sidestep the smoking ban, for example by forming so-called smoking clubs.

Germany and 'Smoke-Free Europe'

Barbara Steffens, of the Green Party, who is the state health minister in North Rhine-Westphalia, wants to tighten her region's lax smoking laws -- prompting an outcry from the beer industry. But the reality of the regional sales figures contradict the oft-repeated fear that businesses will suffer if punters are not allowed to light up.

Germany's smoking bans have long been a patchwork affair with individual states determining regional measures. The result has been that many bars manage to keep their doors open to smokers. Six months ago, European Union Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy John Dalli of Malta called for new rules that would help bring about his goal of a " smoke-free Europe."

According to a ranking list released in March by the Association of European Cancer Leagues, the Tobacco Control Scale 2010 shows that Germany lags many of its European neighbors on the basis of its tobacco taxes, smoking and advertising bans.

jas/spiegel