HONG KONG, May 2 (AP) -- About 200 businesses on a major Hong Kong road shut off their neon signs to protest government plans to implement an indoor smoking ban that they say would threaten their livelihoods by driving away smokers, newspapers reported Monday.

Restaurants, saunas, night clubs and other businesses on Nathan Road turned off their lights from 9 p.m. (1300 GMT) to midnight (1600 GMT) Sunday, the Ming Pao Daily News reported.

Smoking is currently banned in movie theaters, shopping malls, supermarkets and department stores, but Hong Kong's government plans to introduce legislation this month expanding the ban to all indoor public places to improve air quality and reduce deaths from second-hand smoking.

Similar bans in other countries have not affected businesses, the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said in a statement, adding that proprietors would be given a 90-day grace period to comply with the ban.

Sunday's protest came at the beginning of the weeklong May Day holiday in neighboring mainland China, when Hong Kong is expected to see an influx of Chinese tourists.

Business owners say the ban would drive away customers who smoke. Newspapers ran pictures showing a dimmed Nathan Road.

About 15 percent of Hong Kong's population above age 15, or 847,000 people, were smokers in 2003. The government has said Hong Kong spends 900 million Hong Kong dollars (US$115 million; €90 million) a year treating smoking-related diseases.