Flavoured cigarette ban will deter visitors: lawmaker

The government’s plan to ban flavoured cigarettes will deter some tourists and businesspeople from coming to Hong Kong, a lawmaker warned on Friday.

The move is among 10 new measures aimed at reducing the number of smokers in the city, with others including a blanket ban on e-cigarettes and making it illegal for people to light up if they’re in a queue.

Retail sector lawmaker Peter Shiu told RTHK he was worried some people would think twice about coming to Hong Kong when they hear about the flavoured cigarette ban.

“Fruit-flavoured cigarettes are sold in all parts of the world. Assuming people are not allowed to purchase these cigarettes, it would mean that their freedom of choice is being restricted,” he said.

“If some of these people are used to smoking fruit-flavoured cigarettes in their own countries, and they visit Hong Kong where such products are prohibited, they would then think twice before travelling to the SAR for tourism or business.”

However, Henry Tong, who chairs the Council on Smoking and Health, said he was in favour of the plan.

“We really welcome the government’s new measure… banning flavoured tobacco products would make cigarette smoking much less attractive to young people and female smokers,” he said on RTHK’s Hong Kong Today programme.

Deputy Secretary for Health, Eddie Lee, meanwhile, said the government is adopting a “gradual and systemic” approach to making smoking culturally unacceptable in Hong Kong.