With e-tickets, entry to Taj is just a click away

Booking tickets to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra and Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi is now just a click away, with the government making the process online here on Friday.

The e-ticketing facility for the two monuments was launched on a pilot basis by Union Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma. The facility may be made available for other major tourist destinations in the days to come, based on the experience from the ones launched for the Taj Mahal and Humayun’s Tomb.

Amid concerns of safety and security of tourists, especially those visiting India from abroad, Sharma also launched a 24x7 helpline to enable travellers to lodge their grievance and seek support from any corner of India when in trouble. 

A tourist can avail the service by dialing 1800111363 from a mobile phone and 1363 from any landline number in India. 

This helpline, made operational in Hindi and English, will be available in 10 international languages including Russian, German, French and Spanish. The government hopes that the service will boost confidence among foreign tourists and help increase the number of travellers.

The minister also unveiled ‘Welcome Cards’ for foreign tourists arriving at nine international airports. Incredible India Calendar 2015 was also launched at the function here.

Sharma said India received 6.8 lakh visitors during January-November 2014. This led to increase in foreign exchange earnings from tourism as it crossed Rs 1 lakh crore during January-November 2014, with a growth of 12.1 per cent in foreign exchange compared to the same period last year. 

“The year 2014 will remain a historic one for the tourism industry since the government implemented the first phase of Tourist Visas on Arrival (TVOAs) enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA). As a result of this, 16,000 visas were processed since its launch on November 27,” Sharma said.

He said the government plan to develop five tourist circuits around specific themes – Ganga circuit, Krishna circuit, Buddha circuit, North East circuit and Kerala circuit.