Smoking ban results in 25% dip in turnover
Trouw reports that Dutch bars and cafés are suffering a 25-percent reduction in turnover as a result of the smoking ban introduced on 1 July for all bars, hotels and restaurants.
A branch-organisation survey among 1,100 establishments, comparing this summer's turnover with last year's, shows that the branch as a whole suffered a four percent loss in turnover after several years of growth.
However, Trouw writes there that average figure masks a good deal of variation. Hotels and restaurants have been relatively unaffected, but cafés suffered a 25-percent drop, and discotheques more than 30 percent.
Branch organisations expect greater losses when winter sets in and the weather is too cold to light up outside.
A number of cafés have put their ashtrays back on the bar in open defiance of the ban, and some people are arguing for an exemption for cafés which are too small to house a separate smoking area.
However, the main branch organisation is opposed to this idea, mainly because it would encourage unfair competition.
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