On the evening of the first Wednesday of this month, the DJ of Metro Club, the luxurious semi-open roof lounge, was playing different genres of music until the band took over the stage at 9:00pm.

Metro is a club found at Hyatt Regency Hotel located at Meskel Square. The club has a live entertainment programme every day of the week.

The young musician Elias Teklehaimanot, who won third-place on Fana Television’s Lamrot music contest a week ago, was part of the band and sat on one of the chairs waiting for the other band members to join him.

Elias, who started working at Metro two months ago, has worked at multiple clubs. He was not too happy about working in previous clubs because of the tobacco issue.

"I used to suffer from my sinuses in the morning, because of the cigarette smoke I inhaled while performing live the night before,” he told Fortune.

He would hold his breath for a moment so as not to inhale the cigarette smoke whenever anyone smoking would pass by him.

At Metro, no one smokes cigarettes in the club. Anyone who wants to smoke is supposed to go outside to an area that is designated for smoking.

The bulk of research shows that non-smokers in the vicinity of cigarette smoke are found to be associated with an increased risk of lung cancer.

There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke, according to a report from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) released in 2016.

Metro and other clubs, hotels and hospitality service providers banned indoor smoking following a letter issued by the Ministry of Health.

The letter followed with a consent agreement that was signed between the Food & Drug Authority (FDA) and the hotels, bars and clubs to outlaw indoor smoking.

The agreement from the Authority also follows a proclamation that was legislated in February 2019 after going through a drafting process for three years by the FDA and the Ministry.

Dubbed the Food & Medicine Administration Proclamation, the law sets a new regulatory framework for food, medicine, medical devices, cosmetics, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.

The proclamation also puts various restrictions and limitations on the advertisement, sale and use of alcoholic and tobacco products. The regulations span from the production and importation to the distribution and promotion of these products.

Sub-article one of Article 48 of the proclamation states that no person may smoke or use tobacco products in any part of indoor workplaces, public places, on all means of public transport, and in all common areas within condominium housings. No one may smoke or use tobacco outdoors within ten metres of any doorway, operable window or air intake mechanism of any public place or workplace, according to the law.

Before the legislation of the bill, the Authority discussed the draft proclamation with 175 star-hotel owners and general managers.

Though the law was legislated last February, no government office or institution was enforcing the ban on indoor smoking. However, about a month ago, all the hotels were told to outlaw indoor smoking.

If these facilities are found allowing people to smoke indoors, the owners of the enterprises will be imprisoned for a time not exceeding three months or fined an amount not exceeding 10,000 Br, according to the agreement signed between the Authority and the facilities. Additionally, if these facilities do not post a No Smoking sign with a proper colour, the owners will be imprisoned for a time not exceeding three months or will receive a fine not exceeding 1,000 Br.

This frustrated hotels, bars and clubs in the city, who fear their business could suffer since the law may exclude customers.

The previous law used to allow these facilities to designate a smoking area, but the new one forces smokers to move far away from the business.

“It’s discouraging tourists from coming to Ethiopia,” said Lude Abiy, general manager of Addis Abeba Hotel Owner’s Sectoral Association, which has 120 members.

Tourism is one of the nation’s biggest earners of foreign currency. In 2018 the country generated 435.3 million dollars from 933,000 tourists who visited Ethiopia.

Many of these hotels are located in Kazanchis and Bole areas on the main roadsides, according to Lude.

"It'll expose customers to theft and other hazardous situations when they walk the ten-metre distance from the hotels to smoke,” she said.

The concern is shared by the management of Radisson Blu Hotel.

Mesfin Abdi, director of human resources and training at Radisson Blu Hotel, one of the international brand hotels in the capital, says that the law does not consider what types of customers come to Ethiopia.