BANGKOK, 11 February 2019: Thailand’s six gateway airports closed all smoking rooms inside terminals last week.
The six airports are Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai and Mae Fah Luang Chiang Rai, all operated and managed by the Airports of Thailand.
In the past the airports provided glass aquarium-style rooms that isolated smokers. Although air-conditioned with a direct exhaust to outside the terminal building, the smoking rooms provided a toxic environment far worse than the polluted streets of the Thai capital.
The six Thai airports were declared no smoking zones from 3 February 2019. According to AOT, closing the smoking rooms ensures the airports comply with the 2017 Tobacco Control Act.
The Ministry of Public Health released new regulations last November that further curtailed smoking. Hotels and restaurants have now moved smoking zones outside buildings, while the popular balcony and street-side terrace smoking areas attached to pubs and restaurants have also been banned under the new rules.
Smoking in a non-smoking zone carries a fine of THB 5,000.
Thailand became a party to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005. Since then, the country has become a leader limiting smoking zones and introducing bans that even extend to its beaches.
(Source TAT)
