July 1: D-Day for smokers

More than 30% of entertainment nightspots in Singapore have pledged to go entirely smoke-free from 1 July. This is when the new smoking restrictions kick in.

Under the new guidelines by the National Environment Agency, entertainment outlets are allowed to build fully-enclosed smoking rooms for their patrons. But these can only take up 10% of the indoor refreshment area. Outlets which have outdoor refreshment areas can set aside 20% of their space for patrons who light up.

It is confident the new smoking guidelines will not make Singapore a less attractive place for tourists since the smoke-free trend is already in place in other key cities around the world like London and New York.