“We aren’t limiting the rights of people who want to smoke. There will be designated places to smoke near the beach,” Bannarak Sermthong, director at the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) told local media.
A smoking ban piloted last year on Thailand’s beaches is to be enforced at 24 beaches, including popular tourist destinations in Hua Hin, Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui.
“We aren’t limiting the rights of people who want to smoke. There will be designated places to smoke near the beach,” Bannarak Sermthong, director at the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) told local media.
“But on the beaches, smoking affects the health of families and little children who come on vacation.”
Bannarak added that beach trash – especially cigarette butts – eventually pollute the water and harm sea life by entering their food chain.
The DMCR said the discarded cigarette waste made up a third of all rubbish collected.
Last year up to 138,000 cigarette butts were collected by an environmental group over a 2.5km (1.5 miles) stretch of Patong beach in Phuket.
The maximum penalty for smoking on the beach will be a fine and a year in jail. Bannarak said that at the beginning, the law would be used as more of a warning than strictly enforced.
Signs in Thai, English and Chinese will be displayed at non-smoking beaches.