Attitudes of Business People to Proposed Smokefree Shopping Streets

Abstract

To investigate the attitudes of business people toward a possible smokefree policy along a route of major shopping streets, the "Golden Mile" (GM) in central Wellington, New Zealand. Businesses on the GM (n = 303) were visited in June-July 2011. Either the owner or manager from each business was surveyed. A response rate of 65.6% (n = 198) was achieved, with 13.3% declining to participate, and further contact not being productive for 21.2%. Support for making the GM smokefree was 43.4% (95% CI = 36.7%-50.4%), with the remainder opposed. There was significantly higher support among business people who were nonsmokers versus smokers (relative risk = 2.95; 95% CI = 1.48-5.89). Overall, 83.3% (95% CI = 77.0%-88.0%) of respondents stated that a smokefree GM would have either a positive or negligible impact on their business (nonconcern), compared with a negative impact (at 16.7%). Nonconcern about the business impact of a smokefree GM was significantly greater for nonfood businesses (89.9%) versus food businesses (64.0%; p < .001), after adjusting for respondent age, smoking status, and gender in logistic regression models. The modest support for introducing a smokefree streets policy by GM business people may reflect the negligible promotion of the idea in this setting. Nevertheless, the likely business impact of a smokefree streets policy was not a concern for the large majority of these business people, so this may not be a significant barrier to policy development. This type of study can contribute to the process for developing smokefree streets and other outdoor areas, by gauging sector support.