Resorts are beautiful, when they are maintained well. The good maintenance, especially if the place is "all inclusive", means, in my humble opinion, transparent care about many things, that can be easy noticed when it is bad and should be fixed. Water, if you cannot drink from tap, is replaced by bottles, maid and bar services can be motivated by tips, food quality is enforced by health regulations. All things, among any others, we paid for, can be questioned and claimed to management. But what we really should claim for free, any time and without questions, it is a fresh air and it cannot be substituted.
This is privilege of cheap motels to have smoking smell in the rooms, though, why should we feel the same in resorts, that claim five-star service, where we chose to bring our families and kids to have ultimate holidays? Many countries joined the banning smoking in resorts and hotels, but still, we have nice places that may be contaminated with single snap of smoker's fingers. Being in Greece, Cuba, Costa Rica and Germany, we experienced smokers proximity, but it was not so annoying and uncontrollable like in Riu Mambo resort, in Dominican Republic. And it's not just about this particular resort, but it's a rising question concerning entire vacation industry.
Recent experience in Riu Mambo has showed incredibly perverse approach to caring about smoking tourists. Here, it looks like smokers are ruling the world and anybody who are non-smokers should only escape in so-called "non-smoking sections". Instead of "smoking areas", entire resort is free for smoking. People smoking in restaurants, in pools, in hot tabs, in lobbies, on the beach. Seems to be, only physical inability makes them not to smoke underwater, otherwise they would.
Now we are going to the point - if those "poor", "addicted", "suffering" people are so miserable that should be given support, treatment and understanding, (some specialists claim, comparable to cancer-ill patients), why are they so arrogant to make enjoying themselves by abusing non-smokers in any place they want, completely ignoring "No Smoking" signs and claiming they can smoke everywhere where no such signs posted? They are not looking unhappy and suffering. Indeed, they are just grinning and sadistically entertaining themselves to watch how non-smokers should just leave the areas infested by smokers. Why those "poor fellows" are need to be understood, if they don't want to understand and respect non-smokers?
I believe, there will be voices to sound arguments about right of freedom, but if they are really considerable? Let see a couple of excuses.
Excuse #1 - Property managers tell that "... people here to relax, they are on vacations.." so they cannot restrict them. Excuse me, but with all respect, poor people with diarrhea restricted to unload themselves in any place they want, right? Or, you think that smokers stink less disgusting?
Excuse #2 - "There is no "No smoking" signs here (there), therefore smoking is permitted". Just another nonsense. If this is the case, there are also should be signs "No pissing on the walls", or any other, that your imagination can tell you.
Excuse #3 - "This is no anti-smoking law in that country, I can smoke whenever I want". I have heard that at Cuba. Besides the arrogance, it's even more absurd than claiming the absence of "No Smoking" sign. Lets think, if there is no law to prohibit burping garlic odor directly in other person's face, would it be considered normal to do so? If not so, why is it normal to blow smoke in other person's face?
The proposition is simple - if resort management wants to claim 3, 4 or top 5-star service rating, they should ban the smoking in their area entirely. This is the time, when non-smoking is not any more just personal habit, it should be the operational requirement for resort before claiming high class vacations.
People should unite for pressing travel agencies to specify clearly the amenities as non-smoking, refuse the service if they fail to do so and request compensations for their ruined vacations due to not complying to their non-smoking requirements. In other hand, if we have warnings for TV broadcasts that is not suitable for children, why we have no warnings about, let say, Riu Mambo resort, kind of "SMOKING ALERT - NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN"? And please, don't cry about declining business activity due to smoke bans, it's absurd as much as claiming declining business due to ban of drugs and prostitution.
Here are the facts - Localities that entirely banned smoking in public venues, saw a 17 percent drop in heart attacks in year later and a 36 percent reduction after 3 years. This is according not to one or two, but to 13 (!) different surveys in Europe and North America. Yet, kids shouldn't pay by their health for adult's disgusting habits and it would be interesting to find anybody who can say it's wrong.
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