Hotel
industry in Kerala is for making lives of Keralites all the more healthy by
making hotels and restaurants tobacco smoke free. Major hotels and restaurants associations of the state have agreed to protect employees and customers from
dangers of second-hand smoke by initiating necessary measures soon.
The Kerala
hotel industry looks at the larger benefits that will accrue
to public health as against the possible short-term losses from implementing
smoke-free rules, Shri D Chandrasenan Nair, veteran hotel industry leader and General Convenor of
South Kerala Hoteliers Forum (SKHF) has said. “By making our hotels and restaurants smoke-free, we are hopeful of attracting
greater number of non-smokers including women and children.”
Key office bearers and senior representatives of hotel
associations including Kerala Hotels and Restaurants Association (KHRA); South
India Hotels and Restaurants Association (SIHRA); South Kerala Hoteliers
Forum (SKHF) and Association of
Approved and Classified Hotels of Kerala (AACHK) are also united in their commitment to put up mandated signages
and in preventing customers and employees from smoking in their premises.
The Kerala
hotel industry looks at the larger benefits that will accrue
to public health as against the possible short-term losses from implementing
smoke-free rules, Shri D Chandrasenan Nair, veteran hotel industry leader and General Convenor of
South Kerala Hoteliers Forum (SKHF) has said. “By making our hotels and restaurants smoke-free, we are hopeful of attracting
greater number of non-smokers including women and children.”
Shri G Sudhiesh Kumar, State President of the
20,000-member-strong Kerala Hotels and
Restaurants Association said the decision to implement smoke-free rules was unanimously approved
at the Annual General Meeting of the association that met at Kochi on 19 December.
“We realise that this endeavour is not easy
especially in bar hotels but we are going ahead with the decision to protect
non-smokers; the provisions of law will be implemented in a phased manner,”
said Shri Kumar, who is also the Trivandrum District President of Kerala Bar
Hotels Association. He also reiterated his association’s commitment to have
COTPA mandated signages set up in all hotels and restaurants.
Shri MR Narayanan, Secretary General of South
Kerala Hoteliers Forum has said that through this campaign the hotel industry
wishes to communicate the message that efforts to curtail passive smoking
should be taken up by all.
Shri Mathew Thomas, senior representative of
Association of Approved and Classified Hotels of Kerala (AACHK) and Shri S Ajith Kumar, senior representative
of South India Hotels and Restaurants Association (SIHRA) have also expressed their
commitment to the cause.
