Delhi, the capital of India, is one of the most stellar tourist destinations as it offers a placid amalgamation of culture, art and modern architecture. Since Delhi’s air quality continues to deteriorate, it is directly affecting the tourist footfall in the city.

The intensification in pollution levels and the septic smog has led to rescheduling, rerouting and cancellation of the tourists visit, as they are revoking the capital from their travel itinerary. In fact, people are preferring hill stations instead of Dilli Darshan.

Prashant Pitti, executive director of EaseMyTrip, quoted to the Moneycontrol, "It is the peak season for the travel industry and in the last 10 days the good amount of decline in incoming travel to Delhi both domestic and international. Delhi is a gateway for people in India where they land in Delhi and then have connected flight. We are seeing a decline of 10-15 percent in travel to Delhi.”

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Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer of the business-to-consumer segment at Yatra Online Inc said with the slipping AQI levels (air quality index), travellers are planning their trip to the capital for short duration in order to evade many-sided health pitfalls.

He further added by saying that "individuals are looking to take respite by travelling to nearby hill stations during the weekend. Business travellers, too, are looking at postponing their business trips and rescheduling it for a later time period”.

According to travel website Ixigo bookings and travel searches for New Delhi from key international areas including Singapore, Thailand and Qatar have succumbed to 44 percent.

On the other hand, bookings and queries from New Delhi to other destinations have increased 25 percent, Ixigo said. Last-minute bookings from Delhi to other metros like Mumbai and Bengaluru have also surged 20.

The website of AirVisual, which monitors air pollution around the world states that the air quality index, or AQI, reached as high as 858 at some areas in New Delhi at 6.30 AM on Monday after breaching 1,000 over the weekend. Readings above 300 are considered hazardous and anything below 50 is the safe level.

For now, the only relief is the prediction by the Met department which says that there is a possibility of strong winds in the next 24 hours. Hence, it indicates that the pollution levels in the national capital will drop due to an increase in wind speed.

First Published:Nov 6, 2019 4:05 PM IST