Hotel chains, travel bodies express concerns over rising pollution in North India

Advertising veteran Govind Pandey, CEO of TBWA India was planning to travel to Delhi but has cancelled his trip amid rising air quality concerns.

“I was thinking of travelling to Delhi last week and staying with my family over the weekend. But, when I saw the AQI levels I couldn’t muster enough courage,” said Pandey.

“I grew up in Delhi, and had asthmatic tendencies, so I thought it would be traumatic to visit around this time. I was hoping the situation would improve, but the air quality seems to be getting worse. It’s concerning that the central and state governments haven’t yet found concrete solutions to tackle this crisis in the capital of the country,” he added. Travel companies and industry bodies said rising air pollution levels in Delhi-NCR and other destinations in North India are a cause of 'significant concern' and could impact forward bookings to the region.

"It is a developing situation, and the rising air pollution is of extreme concern to everyone. If the situation does not improve, it is likely to have an impact on the overall business in terms of people coming into the city," said Vineet Mishra, cluster general manager of the Pullman and Novotel hotels in Delhi’s AeroCity.

Rajiv Mehra, president Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) said the developments are creating a very ‘bad impression’ of the country, while Sunil Gupta, MD of Travel Bureau and past president of Tourism Guild of Agra said public life and tourism can’t run like this.

“Travel bookings and deposits are made about one or two months in advance and the cancellation impact is not seen immediately. But, as soon as travellers land at the Delhi airport, the message that they will get is the air quality is dreadful. That doesn’t really define a memorable holiday,” said Gupta. “It is like being told on arrival that you made the wrong choice. Every year, we go through the same issues and nothing is done about this before the season. Public life and tourism cannot run like this,” he added.

Atul Bhalla, VP, North and West at ITC Hotels said rising air pollution is prompting people from Punjab, Haryana and Delhi to leave for the hills and bookings for the chain’s properties in the hills are up 20-25 percent over October. “We are seeing an uptick in bookings for locations with better air quality such as Shimla, Dharamshala and Pahalgam,” he added.