It's a fear heard throughout the region. Deteriorating air quality could scare away big-spending tourists as well. The smoke signals from Asia's ailing cities are increasingly obvious, but many leaders and ordinary citizens are slow to act. They can also require assessments of the environmental cost of schemes that increase commercial and private traffic. One reason may be that not enough people are convinced that it's good for them.
Governments are reluctant to rein in their cities' growth.
Indeed, some seem unable to keep up. Executives who run businesses such as property development, transport companies and car manufacturers generally aren't willing to pay for cleaner air, either outright or in terms of lost business opportunities. They may be making a mistake. But if you look at it in the long term, the economic impact of not correcting them now is more severe. One possible bright spot is the informal alliance of environmental groups with local chambers of commerce and other concerned business organizations.