{"id":33498,"date":"2026-05-01T15:02:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T13:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=33498"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T13:02:56","slug":"hong-kong-government-to-cut-city-smoking","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/hong-kong-government-to-cut-city-smoking\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong government to cut city smoking"},"content":{"rendered":"
Anyone carrying a\u00a0vape\u00a0or e-cigarettes in public in Hong Kong could now be fined, as the government wants to cut the city’s smoking rate even further.<\/div>\n
\nAuthorities are concerned that the products attract young people, but some fear this will push the habit underground.<\/div>\n
\nLaura Westbrook reports from Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong already has one of the world’s lowest smoking rates at around 8.5 per cent. The government wants to cut it further.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The city already bans the import and sale of\u00a0vapes\u00a0and e-cigarettes, now possessing\u00a0vapes\u00a0or e-cigarettes in public is banned.<\/p>\n

Offenders are facing on-the-spot fines of $380, with harsher penalties for larger quantities.<\/p>\n

Local media reported at least two people were\u00a0penalised\u00a0by authorities for using e-cigarettes as the ban took effect.<\/p>\n

The rules also apply to tourists visiting the city. Authorities have also been working with tour agencies and airlines to step up promotion ahead of the new smoking controls.<\/p>\n

The ban takes effect ahead of mainland China’s\u00a0Labour\u00a0Day “golden week” holiday. The city is expecting almost one million mainland Chinese visitors during the five-day holiday period.<\/p>\n

A recent survey found that 55% of people who\u00a0vape\u00a0intend to continue doing so.<\/p>\n

Officials say the bans aim to protect young people from developing a smoking habit.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
–Channel Africa–<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33499,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-33498","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Anyone carrying a\u00a0vape\u00a0or e-cigarettes in public in Hong Kong could now be fine","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33500,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33498\/revisions\/33500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}