More cafes ban smoking on outdoor terraces

More and more Dutch restaurants and bars are banning smoking on their terraces. Last year the country counted 39 terraces that were completely or partly smoke-free, now there are 113, according to figures from anti-smoking organization Clean Air Nederland. The vast majority of terraces still allow smoking - there are thousands of terraces in the Netherlands.

According to Clean Air Nederland chairman Tom Voeten, it is especially quality restaurants and terraces frequented by families with children that are banning smoking. "What is clearly lagging behind are cafes and bars in entertainment areas where mostly young people come. We hardly see any smoke-free terraces there", he said to NOS.

According to the anti-smoking organizations, more and more visitors to the hospitality industry are asking for terraces with no smokers.

Late last year Public Health State Secretary Paul Blokhuis signed the National Prevention Agreement with some 70 civil society organizations. One of the objectives in that agreement is to have a generation with no smokers at all by 2040. To achieve this, it was agreed that hospitality businesses will be encouraged to ban smoking on their terraces. Smoking areas in restaurants, cafes and pubs must also close by 2022.