Delhi Air Quality Prompts remote Work, Surge in Travel Bookings
New Delhi – As air quality in the Delhi-NCR region deteriorates, companies are increasingly empowering employees to work remotely, while residents are rapidly booking getaways to escape the smog.
Diageo is among companies trusting employees to “exercise discretion and make decisions that best support their wellbeing and work requirements,” according to Shilpa Vaid, CHRO at Diageo. “This approach is consistent across all our locations in India,including Delhi & NCR,” she stated,adding that hybrid work allows teams to balance business priorities with personal safety and wellbeing.
Vaid emphasized a company culture of “trust and flexibility that empowers our people to make choices that support their wellbeing and performance.”
The worsening air quality is driving a critically important increase in travel bookings. Thrillophilia, a travel company, reported a 24% week-on-week surge in bookings to hill and heritage destinations coinciding with the decline in Air quality Index (AQI). Abhishek Daga, cofounder of Thrillophilia, noted residents are “making speedy travel decisions to get out of the smog.” Drive getaways within six hours account for 62% of incremental bookings, with flights making up the remaining 38%.
Adotrip has seen a 30-35% rise in last-minute vacation bookings from Delhi-NCR, particularly from families with young children or elderly members, seeking cleaner air in destinations like Rishikesh, Manali, Shimla, Nainital, and goa, according to founder and CEO Vikas Katoch. He described the trend as families taking “smog breaks” due to AQI levels exceeding 400 in parts of the city.
WanderOn CEO Govind Gaur reported a “sharp uptick in last-minute travel bookings from Delhi” driven by rising pollution. Popular destinations include Himachal Pradesh (Manali, Kasol, Bir), Uttarakhand (Rishikesh, Nainital, Mukteshwar), and coastal regions like Goa, gokarna, and Varkala. Searches for hill destinations from delhi have surged nearly 35-40% in the past fortnight.
The Delhi government is implementing measures to combat pollution, including transitioning to electric buses and exploring cloud seeding, as stated by environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa.