Hong Kong shisha bars warn proposed ban on flavoured cigarettes will cripple businesses
- Patrons may turn to illegal venues offering indoor shisha smoking if government goes ahead with ban, operators say
The ban was among 10 measures proposed by health authorities to help lower the city’s smoking rate to 7.8 per cent, with the government expecting the Legislative Council to pass them by the end of next year.
In a reply to the Post, the Department of Health said the ban would cover conventional smoking products, which included “tobacco products used in water pipe smoking”.
Nicholas*, a 25-year-old clerk who since 2021 has invested in two Causeway Bay bars that specialise in shisha, said his business might close down under the ban.
“Flavours are what make shisha interesting,” he said. “There’s a chance that we will close the business as 80 per cent of sales will drop. The only way to survive is to change to a pure bar business, but it is very competitive at this moment.”
He suggested the government, if it insisted on implementing the ban, could allow for a transition period of two years for bars to adapt.
