Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Posted by : John Ross on Jun 04, 2008 - 11:42 AM spainandportugal

When Spanish authorities tried to impose restrictions on smoking in public spaces back in 2006, they were a long way from being completely successful. In particular, it proved impossible for them to eliminate smoking from bars and restaurants, indeed the measures introduced did not even manage to reduce significantly the number of places where smoking is allowed. Anti-smoking legislation came into force in Portugal at the beginning of this year, and in spite of the sniggering that was caused when PM José Socrates was forced to make a public apology after being caught smoking on a plane, I had imagined that it would have the same negligible effect as in Spain. But on a trip to Oporto last month, I found out I was wrong. More of this story.

In theory, Spanish and Portuguese anti-smoking legislation is more or less the same (which is not surprising, it is EU-led in both cases). Smoking is allowed in indoor public places only when there is complete separation of smokers' and non-smokers' air, with separate ventilation systems, etc. But in Spain, this just did not happen, and the extent to which it has changed things in Portugal came as a surprise to me. Or rather, I should say "nasty shock" - I'm a smoker, and a heavy one.

Smoking is now banned in Portugal in bars, restaurants and other places where food is consumed and people get together for a drink. But what really took me back was to find that smoking is now prohibited in Portuguese hotels - not just in the bar or the dining room, but in hotel rooms. These are all fitted with smoke detectors, connected to a centralized smoke detection system, which the standard Portuguese hotel room poster now warns are "highly sensitive" and "easily triggered."

Now, I have always had a certain sympathy for long-suffering non-smokers unable to find a café with smoke-free air in Spain (not, generally, enough sympathy to put my cigarettes out, I must admit). But the hotel room? That's my home for the night! This is Orwellian!

I also found out that some hotels, 5-star ones, have a floor given over to rooms for smokers - presumably this is because they have been able to afford the kind of building work required to install separate ventilation. And I understand the situation is similar in restaurants, though on this tirip I did not manage to find a single eatery where you could smoke indoors. Fortunately, smoking is still tolerated outdoors, and what has happened is that restaurateurs and waiters have learnt to be tolerant of diners who nip outside for a quick puff before their coffee.

So smoking has become an elitist luxury in Portugal. But at the other end, a few (very few) bars of the alternative kind - there are a lot of hippies in Portugal, of all ages and nationalities - are ignoring the ban. You'll find them easy to spot, for they are, of course, the first to fill up.

Why have the Spanish and Portuguese experiences been so different? On reflection, I realise that the main reason the Spanish anti-smoking drive failed is that responsibility for healthcare corresponds not to central but to regional government here, and no regional government wanted to lose votes by backing these measures - the catering industry, workers, everyone was hostile, except doctors. Portugal does not have the same political tensions.

Meanwhile, as the summer approaches, smokers will find themselves spending all their time outside on pavement cafés. And in the hotel, you can still smoke on your balcony. The bad times for smokers will be when winter comes around again and they are forced to brave the elements, or huddle in their own bathrooms like guilty schoolboys, if hotels have not been obliged to install smoke detectors there, as well. Or cameras.