site.btaHospitality Industry Opposes Proposal for Six-Month Closure of Establishments Which Allow Smoking

Representatives of the hospitality industry have opposed a proposal by Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) for a 6-month closure of establishments allowing smoking of all types of cigarettes and demand that it be withdrawn.

The statement is co-signed by the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, the Bulgarian Association of Restaurants (BRA) and the Association of Restaurants in Bulgaria and was published on the BRA's Facebook page on Wednesday.

On April 4 MPs of CC-DB group tabled a bill to amend and supplement the Health Act. The bill proposes that if tobacco or tobacco-related products are found to be in use on an establishment’s premises, the establishment should be shut down for six months.

According to the industry, “this is not just an unjustified extreme measure – it is another blow against the hardworking people of the tourism and restaurant industry who have survived for years despite the chaos, lack of sound economic policy and constant attempts at repressive restrictions” and will leave the owners of these establishments, their employees and their families without a livelihood.

"Solutions must be sought with dialogue, with expertise, with flexibility – not with pressure, bans and repression," the industry insisted.