Relaxed Smoking Ban?

specially adapted closed spaces

Benidorm council has just voted in favour of asking Spain's central Government if the town can be have a special exemption from the blanket ban on indoor smoking which the rest of the country (and most other western European and North American countries) has.
 

The proposal is backed by the town's restaurants, bars, clubs and hotels who blame the tobacco ban for their lack of customers and decreased profits. Some go as far as to say that tourists no longer come to Benidorm because of it and instead go to destinations like Turkey where rules aren't so strict.

The Liberals and Socialists in the town hall who voted this proposal through say that smokers should be allowed into specially adapted closed spaces within these establishments so that only they would be affected by the smoke. Whether this will wash with the Conservative Central Government is a moot point as the ban was introduced to eradicate smoking in the entire country by discouraging it.
 

A poll in the local paper has 27% in favour of the proposal and 72% against it – coincidentally this is the same proportion of smokers and non-smokers in the population – what do you think?

1 February 2012 Stephen White.