"People who want to sit outside and enjoy the sun and summer weather are still being subjected to passive smoke.
Nationwide, smoking among adult pack-a-day smokers has dropped 22.5 per cent since the 2006 census. In the Bay of Plenty, it has fallen 21.3 per cent.
Ms Macmillan said: "That's something we can all be proud of, but there are still more than 24,000 people who smoke in our region so we've still got work to do."
Like the Heart Foundation, Bay of Plenty public health service Toi Te Ora sees a need for smoke-free outdoor spaces.
Medical Officer of Health Dr Neil de Wet said it would "reduce exposure to tobacco smoke and the public visibility of smoking. This helps make being smokefree more normal than smoking."
He said Toi Te Ora helped councils implement smokefree policies for public areas such as playgrounds, parks, beaches and bus stops, and to consider other areas where people gather, such as alfresco dining areas, outdoor events and malls.
Tauranga City Council adopted a Smokefree Places Policy in March last year and has smokefree signage at public places, including playgrounds, sports fields, Mauao and the TECT All Terrain Park.
The policy calls for encouragement rather than enforcement to stop people smoking outdoors, but local GP and clinical director of BayMed Dr Tim Chiari said banning smoking in outdoor dining areas at least was "a natural progression".
"It's going to help us win our battle to have a smokefree 2025. I think New Zealand is doing really well already; most people think smoking's quite dirty and unacceptable."
But while Tauranga bar owners support the existing indoor smoking ban, they oppose an outdoor one.
"That's a step too far," said Crown & Badger owner Colin Milne.
Added his wife Marianne: "People deserve the right to choose. We don't have a problem with people smoking outside."
The Milnes have owned the pub on The Strand for 12 years and Mr Milne said smokefree laws did not affect business "as long as the option's still there for people to have a smoke outside".
Brew Craft Beer Pub duty manager Tina Masiarova believed an outdoor ban was unnecessary.
"People just generally understand each other and if they see a family with kids, they sit quite far away from them if smoking."
At the same time, Ms Masiarova said the pub received daily requests for people wanting outdoor tables away from smokers.
La Mexica bar manager Mike Osborne, who is a smoker, said: "People are more considerate these days. I don't walk up the main street having a smoke."
In contrast, public support for the idea is growing.
Fifty-six per cent of people voiced support in a survey conducted by the Health Promotion Agency in Wellington in 2012, while the figure was markedly higher - 73 per cent - in a recent poll conducted by the Cancer Society in Auckland.
In Palmerston North, the city council has agreed to invite submissions on making tables and chairs on footpaths smokefree, while in New Plymouth, several cafes and restaurants near the city's library have expressed willingness to make their outdoor dining areas smokefree.
Otago University research shows smoking in outdoor dining areas has wider implications than the health effects of second-hand smoke.
George Thomson, associate professor of public health in Wellington, said seeing others smoke was a huge problem for people trying to quit.
