Lifestyle

Smokers Visiting Thailand Need To Know About Their New Smoking Rules

Victoria Lee

2019-04-14 , 10:00 am

Last Updated on 2019-04-22 , 3:28 pm

If you smoke and you’re heading to Thailand for a holiday, you may want to reconsider smoking there.

On February 3 this year, the new rules were enforced.

If you get caught breaking any of these rules, you’ll be fined up 5,000 Baht. That’s about $213 Singapore dollars.

Unless you’re prepared to waste your holiday funds to pay for a fine, you should follow these rules closely.

No Smoking Areas

There are a bunch of no smoking areas which have been added to the list. So, you’re not allowed to smoke or light up a cigarette in any of these areas. The list includes:

Condos
Rental Buildings
Pubs
Hotels
Religious Buildings
Karaoke establishments
Restaurants
Laundries
Salons
Cinemas
Parking areas

And more. You can find the full list here.

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t smoke at all

There are also some designated smoking rooms in some venues.

The regulation was issued by the Department of Public Health that forces smokers to steer away from public areas and buildings.

In fact, there is also a five-metre perimeter that forms an exclusion zone from the entrances or exits of buildings.

No Smoking in Airports

If you need a smoke after landing, you can no longer do that.

The airport smoking rooms at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hat Yai, and Phuket have all been closed.

Adding on to that, the 5-metre exclusion zone also applies at airports since it’s a public building. There may be areas outside the airport where smoking is allowed, but make sure you find a sign where it says that smoking is allowed.

Or again, you’ll have to give up 5,000 Baht.

No Smoking Signs

Besides the announcement of the extensive list of no smoking areas, there was another announcement about the ‘no smoking’ signs.

The ‘no smoking’ signs will have a diameter of 10 centimetres or more.

Nothing smaller. So don’t worry, you definitely won’t miss these signs.

This has already been in effect since 6 November of last year.

Smoking is also prohibited at a number of beaches in Thailand, but no smoking signs there are not always clear. Smokers should be extra careful about not breaking the law, too.

Vaping and Electronic Cigarettes Banned

In the past, there were a few instances where tourists were arrested for smoking e-cigarettes in public. Some of them were fined, some of them were detained.

Not the best way to spend a holiday there, if you ask me.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand issued an advisory on their website in 2017, telling tourists that they should be aware that such cigarettes were illegal in Thailand.

If anyone is found with such, they could be arrested and jailed, or pay a fine several times the value of their cigarette.

Contradictory to that, there are actually sellers in Thailand that do sell e-cigarettes still. This means that the police is still unaware, or they made deals with those sellers.

Either way, don’t do it. Why waste your precious vacation time breaking a law?