Lebanese tourism groups plead with the government to retract indoor smoking ban

Lebanon’s tourism associations renewed a demand for amending the smoking ban, warning that the sector incurred heavy losses since the law became effective last month.

Paul Ariss, head of the Restaurants Association, said. “The law was passed at the wrong time when the sector was already suffering from a sharp decline caused by political and security turmoil that [caused a sharp fall in the number] of tourists,” he added.

“We are not calling to cancel the smoking ban but [for a law] that takes our business into account,” added Pierre Achkar, head of the Hotels Association.