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Ministry of Tourism: Battambang Will Be Smoke-Free City Next Year
AKP Phnom Penh, December 13, 2019 --

The Ministry of Tourism has planned to transform Battambang city, the most populous city in Battambang northwestern province, to be a smoke-free city before the end of 2020.

According to the ministry's news release, to achieve this goal, a workshop was held there yesterday under the presidency of H.E. Hor Sarun, Under Secretary of State for Tourism.

Until now, 22 out of 44 hotels and 13 of 26 restaurants in Battambang city have been recognised with their Smoke-Free Environment in Tourism Sector.

H.E. Hor Sarun said all the recognised hotels and restaurants with the award of “Smoke-Free Environment in Tourism Sector” have been evaluated based on the list of requirements under the law and other regulations.
AKP

What a great idea if they can do it may ieven look to live there myself

When they make the cities garbage free, with pavements to walk on, vehicles stopping at red lights, they can then start persecuting smokers.

So no smoking but feel free to burn any old crap outside your home.

Also, as posted already, garbage... a more difficult problem to fix so maybe this is just a case of going for the low hanging fruit?

Good luck implementing that. They are ignoring all the burning plastics and tyres. Not to mention all the other environmental pollutants. Work on those first!

Hope they get this going country-wide soon. After the smoking ban they need to set drink limits. 6 drinks max per person, there are too many drunks around now.

Excellent, nothing worse then some dickhead blowing smoke in your face or eating in a place that smells of smoke.
Have to raise the fine, at the moment only 20000 riel.

There are heaps of things a nation can do that will have a real impact on smoking levels, and it's right across the board.
Big ones probably: stop advertising, big increase in tax/price, plain packaging, health education, push detoxing options, restrict smoking areas. and a few more.

Its hard for a gov to do the big ones straight off. You need to build up the momentum to take on BigTobacco successfully.
You gotta start somewhere - and these things tend to snowball.
Bottom line; There is a huge incentive for any gov to do this. Slash public health costs and rake in millions from a voluntary tax. Cambodia is probably getting to the point where this model may actually be adopted. Maybe.

another option... increase taxes, continue to allow BigTobacco to run free, make even more tax money.
just sayin'

GMJS-CEO wrote: ↑Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:53 am Hope they get this going country-wide soon. After the smoking ban they need to set drink limits. 6 drinks max per person, there are too many drunks around now.

I used up my 6 drink limit one summer evening when I was 14 years old...

Or is that 6 per hour? I can work within that limit.

The promotion of smoke-free zones appears to have more to do with Cambodian cities achieving heritage status and attracting more tourists, than any particular concern for the health of the population.

Battambang tourism sites to be smoke-free
published : 16 Dec 2019 at 16:52
PHNOM PENH: The Ministry of Tourism has chosen Battambang to become a smoke-free city by the end of 2020 to promote public health and develop a smoke-free tourism sector.

Ministry spokesman Top Sopheak on Sunday said the decision to turn Battambang city into a smoke-free environment will aid in efforts to turn the city green and clean up its environment, the Khmer Times reported on Monday.

He noted this is important because the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts plans to seek heritage city status for Battambang from Unesco.

“We set the target to be smoke-free, but it does not mean that there is no smoking areas in the whole of Battambang city,” he said. “We don’t want to have air pollution due to tobacco smoke in the tourism industry, such as at hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and resorts; it can affect tourists who don’t like tobacco smoke.”

Sopheak added that the ministry conducted a similar campaign in Siem Reap city and will push it next to Kampot city and Kratie city, which the ministry also plans to list as heritage cities.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/1817364/