NEW DELHI: The severe air pollution may affect the plans of people intending to visit the national capital, travel agents and online travel portals said. “Travel into Delhi is getting impacted. People are expressing concern and itineraries are being relooked at. Travellers have to cross Delhi to reach other destinations like Shimla and Mussoorie, so they’re flying, transiting and leaving Delhi. “Earlier, people would want to stay here for a day or two, but now no one wants to do that. It’s becoming a fly-out transit point,” said BenzyNazar, CEO of Akbar Holidays.
“This is certainly going to impact the near and midterm plans of inbound travellers coming to the country,” said SharatDhall, president of travel portal Yatra.com.
Foreign tourist arrivals in India in November and December are typically the highest during the year. Sarabjit Singh, managing director of Travelite India, said his teams are looking at cancelling and changing existing bookings.
“If the situation doesn’t improve, we can expect more cancellations and a dip in future bookings,” he said. Expatriates living in Delhi are taking measures to minimise the impact of the pollution and some are even relocating. Gavin Morris, an expat art director who works in ShahpurJat in New Delhi, is considering moving to Jaipur for the weekends.
“I have a part-time job so I’m considering leaving the city every weekend to escape the pollution,” he said. Relocation services provider Santa Fe assisted 1,630 expats who were moving out of the country in 2015. The company has raised its estimates for 2016 to about 1,880. “Pollution has become a major concern. This is troubling people a lot. People who are relocating from outside are coming with a plan of quicker turnarounds. Expats staying in Delhi are also preferring to relocate to pollution-free cities and towns,” said Anil Jagtiani, COO of Santa Fe.
