Taj entry to become automatic
Vishal Sharma
New Delhi/ Agra. Tourists at the Taj Mahal may not have to stand in long queues to gain entry, from August this year.
Worried about the negative response among tourists, especially the foreign ones, by the delay in ticket buying at the Taj Mahal, the Archaeological Survey of India has decided to introduce e-ticketing facility at the monument by the end of July or the first week of August.
Talking to Business Standard, S K Sharma, assistant superintending archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Agra, said 12,000-15,000 tourists visited the Taj each day and a tourist had to stand in the queue for 10-15 minutes outside the monument gate.
To provide a quick solution to this problem, he said the ASI had decided to introduce the "Metro railway-style" e-ticketing system at the Taj Mahal, apart from some other important monuments in Delhi, where a tourist could buy a ticket from an automated ticket-vending machine and enter the monument by inserting the ticket in a slot built in a "turnstile gate".
He said once used, the ticket would be marked as unusable and it would have kept by the visitor as long as he was inside because it would be needed to activate the exit gate also.
According to Sharma, the ASI was planning to link the e-ticketing system to the electronic-ticketing networks like Amadeus for off-site sales of tickets to the Taj Mahal, through five-star hotels and various other tourist hubs, where ticket-vending machines would be located.
He said the ASI was holding discussions with agencies in Delhi for installing the ticketing system at all three gates of the monument and a tender would be brought out soon to finalise the deal.
Apart from the Taj Mahal, he said Red Fort and Qutub Minar in Delhi would have this ticketing system and the time taken to buy the ticket would be about 2 minutes, besides allowing for the possibility of using credit cards to purchase tickets. Besides, he said, with this system, it would become very easy for the ASI to track the number of people inside the monument in real time.
Once the system was installed, he said, even VVIPs, employees, guides and children would have to have a ticket, even though they could be "free" tickets or monthly season passes.
New Delhi/ Agra. Tourists at the Taj Mahal may not have to stand in long queues to gain entry, from August this year.
Worried about the negative response among tourists, especially the foreign ones, by the delay in ticket buying at the Taj Mahal, the Archaeological Survey of India has decided to introduce e-ticketing facility at the monument by the end of July or the first week of August.
Talking to Business Standard, S K Sharma, assistant superintending archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Agra, said 12,000-15,000 tourists visited the Taj each day and a tourist had to stand in the queue for 10-15 minutes outside the monument gate.
To provide a quick solution to this problem, he said the ASI had decided to introduce the "Metro railway-style" e-ticketing system at the Taj Mahal, apart from some other important monuments in Delhi, where a tourist could buy a ticket from an automated ticket-vending machine and enter the monument by inserting the ticket in a slot built in a "turnstile gate".
He said once used, the ticket would be marked as unusable and it would have kept by the visitor as long as he was inside because it would be needed to activate the exit gate also.
According to Sharma, the ASI was planning to link the e-ticketing system to the electronic-ticketing networks like Amadeus for off-site sales of tickets to the Taj Mahal, through five-star hotels and various other tourist hubs, where ticket-vending machines would be located.
He said the ASI was holding discussions with agencies in Delhi for installing the ticketing system at all three gates of the monument and a tender would be brought out soon to finalise the deal.
Apart from the Taj Mahal, he said Red Fort and Qutub Minar in Delhi would have this ticketing system and the time taken to buy the ticket would be about 2 minutes, besides allowing for the possibility of using credit cards to purchase tickets. Besides, he said, with this system, it would become very easy for the ASI to track the number of people inside the monument in real time.
Once the system was installed, he said, even VVIPs, employees, guides and children would have to have a ticket, even though they could be "free" tickets or monthly season passes.
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