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Latin America’s landlords enforce smoking bans without losing customers

By María Bird Picó

Many Latin Americans are fond of their cigarettes, and they are accustomed to lighting up at home, in the street, in the office, in restaurants and in stores. It is not surprising, therefore, that mall landlords were a little concerned about a raft of new laws sweeping the region barring smoking from various public venues. Were they about to see a rebellion, or to have nicotine-starved customers shortening their visits to the mall?

“When our local law became effective [in 2005], we thought it was going to generate chaos,” said Marité Rasmussén, manager and shareholder of Mall del Sol, in Asunción, Paraguay. “Initially, sales at the food court and the coffee shops went down.”

Given the number of people who smoke in Latin America, it is little wonder business owners were anxious. Forty-five percent of men and 35percent of women in Chile and Argentina are smokers. In Brazil 31 percent of those 15 and older smoke. In contrast, smokers make up 21 percent of the U.S. population. Colombia is one of only a few Latin American countries with a rate that low — 18.9 percent of its people between the ages of 18 and 69 smoke, according to the Pan American Health Organization.

Landlords face stiff penalties if customers violate smoking bans. Uruguay, where 30 percent of the population smokes, last year passed the toughest anti-smoking restrictions in Latin America, with a ban on smoking in other types of public buildings besides stores and offices. President Tabaré Vázquez, an oncologist, issued a government decree under which businesses and offices face fines of over $1,000 or a three-day closure if people are caught lighting up on their premises.

Such restrictions could spread all over Latin America if more countries embrace the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s first public health treaty. It has already been ratified by 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Under the agreement, a country has five years to implement comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. The treaty also suggests a total ban on smoking in public places, though it does not spell out a timetable for this.

Executives at one of Uruguay’s main malls, Montevideo Shopping, were concerned enough about the ban to conduct a pre-prohibition study, which revealed that 33 percent of its shoppers smoke. Of these, 3 percent said they would no longer shop there following the ban’s coming into effect.

Meanwhile, Asunción, the capital city of Paraguay, has banned smoking in enclosed public spaces. Smokers are not allowed to light up inside establishments in an area smaller than 80 square meters (860 square feet). Larger restaurants, bars and food courts may set aside 30 percent of the space for smokers if they can provide an independent ventilation system.

The bans do not seem to be hurting sales. That is what Montevideo Shopping discovered, despite those few shoppers who insisted they would not come after the ban. Tres Cruces, a Montevideo mall within one of the city’s bus terminals, reports the same, with little resistance from shoppers. “People complied with it immediately,” said Marcelo Lombardi, Tres Cruces’ general manager. “Except for cigarettes sales in the mall’s kiosks, there was no major impact on our sales.”

Some mall landlords in Latin America have taken the initiative in barring smoking, rather than waiting for government to do so. That is what happened when Venezuela’s Grupo Sambil became the first mall operator in that country to prohibit smoking in its six malls last July — which, not coincidentally, was Children’s Month — accompanying the ban with an educational campaign about the risks of smoking. Far from hurting sales, the ban has helped business, at least in the food court, where customers now linger less, freeing up tables for others. “We have received few complaints,” said Alfredo Cohen, vice president of Grupo Sambil, adding that other malls in Venezuela have since banned smoking.

In Argentina the city of Buenos Aires imposed a ban last October on smoking in enclosed public places with an area smaller than 1,076 square feet. In bigger spaces, up to 30 percent of the area can be set aside for smokers, but there must be a physical divider between the two areas and an independent ventilation system. A similar law is in place in at least three other Argentinean cities: Córdoba, Rosario and Tucumán. “The anti-tobacco law has not affected consumption in our mall,” said Verónica Guirguet, who is in charge of marketing and advertising for Galerías Pacífico, a mall in Buenos Aires. “Since the campaign was launched by the government, people saw the measure as normal. But we worked on a strong awareness campaign during the first stage of the law’s implementation.”

The Argentinean government estimates that 8 million of its 40 million citizens are smokers. A proposed nationwide ban on smoking in buildings used by the public is before the legislature.

Chile enacted a nationwide ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces that became effective last August. Gabriele Lothholz, a spokeswoman for Santiago, Chile-based Cencosud, a developer and operator of malls in Chile and Argentina, says shoppers have taken the ban in stride, helped by a mall publicity campaign.

In Brazil, one of the world’s major tobacco producers, smoking has been prohibited in most public places since 1996, including public offices, hospitals, classrooms, libraries, places of collective work, cinemas and theaters — but not malls, though some jurisdictions ban smoking in all enclosed areas, including malls. “This has been going on for a few years, and it doesn’t seem to have affected business,” said Renato Rique, president of Rio de Janeiro-based Aliansce Shopping Centers.

There is a new anti-tobacco bill in the pipeline for Peru, says Carmen Barco, who handles smoking issues at the nonprofit, Lima-based Information and Education Center for the Prevention of Drug Abuse.

In Mexico Congress approved a law four years ago that allows restaurants, bars and nightclubs to set aside at least 40 percent of their space for nonsmokers if they install ventilation systems. Mexico also outlaws smoking in public places. But the law is not always enforced, as is evident from the tobacco smoke often present in such places.

Some mall owners in Mexico report resistance to the ban from shoppers. Paseo San Pedro, a mall in Monterrey, forbids smoking, but people still light up in the food court, says Ricardo Rangel Mena, the mall’s director of operations. “It is not easy to train people to stop smoking in enclosed spaces like shopping centers,” he said.

Grupo Roble, Central America’s main mall developer and operator, bans smoking in enclosed malls with a central air conditioner but allows it in open-air centers, says Alberto Poma, the firm’s general manager. This is also the policy of Guatemala-based mall firm Marbensa & Co. Smoking is also banned in enclosed spaces in Bogotá, Colombia.

The key to handling smoking bans is to phase them in gradually, says Maryssa Melero de Urbina, retail manager at Plaza Merliot, in San Salvador, El Salvador. The mall discourages smoking by providing no ashtrays, but — so far — it does not stop people who light up on its premises. “If people smoke in the hallways, we do not say anything, but it is not comfortable having people smoking within the common areas,” said Melero de Urbina.

“It has become necessary to ban smoking inside the mall, but a change has to be phased in.”