Tag Archives: Taj Mahal

Travel experts at Bounce analysed the world’s landmarks on a variety of factors including annual visitor numbers, entry prices, Tripadvisor ratings, and Instagram posts, to reveal the world’s most loved landmarks. in Taj Mahal in India is the 2nd best-loved landmark in the world, with 6,532,366 annual visitors, following Niagara Falls in Canada with 11,700,000 visitors annually.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has stated that Taj Mahal remains the highest revenue-generating monument in India. Despite the pandemic, resulting in travel restrictions with limited number of visitors allowed inside the monument, Taj Mahal sold tickets amounting to a total of Rs 132 crore. In 2019-2020, the total revenue received from Taj Mahal was Rs 97.5 crore. In 2021-22, it was Rs 26.61 crore. ASI noted that 24 per cent of the total revenue has been generated by the Taj Mahal alone. 

According to a recent study by ParkSleepFly, The Taj Mahal ranks the world’s second-best value for money tourist attraction. Known for being of the most beautiful examples of architecture in the world, the landmark is relatively affordable, with an entry ticket costing $14.61. The study also revealed that just 1% of visitors to the Taj Mahal leave a bad review, representing the excellent value.  

Sunil C Gupta, EC Member & Chairman-Northern Region, IATO and Director, Travel Bureau, Agra, has said that the Minister of Tourism and Culture needs to review the capping of tourist numbers at the Taj Mahal, since that is creating a chaos and black marketing of tickets. Reacting on reports of tourists not getting tickets at Taj Mahal, he said, “It is very said that we have mismanaged and now there is a cap of 2500 tourists for morning and afternoon. This unnecessary shortage of tickets creates panic, fear, chaos and frustration among tourists. It’s totally unwarranted and impractical. We humbly request our dear tourism minister and DG-ASI to kindly review this as there is no need for any capping. This is sending a wrong a message to tourist and is counter-productive to the efforts of MOT and MOC for revival of tourism.”

After much deliberation from travel trade and associations in India and in the state of UP, Taj Mahal and Agra Fort are all set to be opened for tourists, starting September 21, 2020.

The Agra district administration (ADA) is mulling plans to reopen the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort for tourists in the second week of September. A final date has not been decided yet. However, it is speculated that other ASI protected monuments in the region like Fatehpur Sikri and Sikandara Tomb will open by the end of this month.

The top 10 revenue generating monuments during 2015-18 are Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Qutub Minar, Red Fort, Humayun’s Tomb, Sun Temple Konark, Group of Monuments Mamallapuram, Ellora Caves, Group of Monuments Khajuraho and Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad. The information was shared by Dr Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate change in reply to a starred question in the Rajya Sabha. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) spent Rs 41,076.79 lakh in 2017-18 for the conservation of protected monuments.

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India (HRANI) is set to organise its next conclave in Lucknow on February 16, 2019. Set to be held at Taj Mahal, Lucknow, the conclave will be inaugurated by Justice D P Singh, Chairman, Uttar Pradesh Solid Waste Management Monitoring Committee. The theme of the conclave ‘Environmental Concerns of Hospitality Industry’ is chosen to promote ecotourism by adopting environment-friendly practices. Dr Anita Bhatnagar Jain, Additional Chief Secretary, Food Safety and Drug Administration Dept., Govt of Uttar Pradesh; Anurag Yadav, Secretary, Urban Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh, and I K Kapila, Advocate & Solicitor, Techno-Legal Environmental Consultant will be gracing the event as guest speakers. The topics for discussion during the upcoming HRANI Conclave – Applicable SWM and plastic waste disposal rules and role of stakeholders in effective implementation of plastic and solid waste management – aim towards spreading awareness on the environment-friendly practices that hotels can adopt.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued an advisory stating that airlines may consider using local language for in-flight announcements “to extent feasible”. Moreover, in order to enhance awareness about the cultural heritage of India, pilots can make in-flight announcements about important monuments or sites enroute the flight, the advisory said. Announcements in local language would be in addition to the ones made in Hindi and English, according to the DGCA advisory. The DGCA clarified in its latest advisory that airlines may make the aforementioned additional in-flight announcements without compromising any safety requirements or core job functions of crew members. “It is made clear that the above announcements be made without compromising safety of operations at any stage,” the advisory added. In 2016, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had issued a circular asking airports under its control to make public announcements in the local language followed by Hindi and English. There are more than 100 operational airports in India. “To enhance awareness about cultural heritage of India, pilot can make in-flight announcement about the important monument or site (such as the Taj Mahal, the Konark Temple, the Ajanta Ellora, the Statue of Unity, etc), which are enroute the flight,” the DGCA advisory stated.

The Ministry of Tourism has identified 17 sites in 12 clusters for development under Iconic Tourist Sites Development Project. The sites include Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, Ajanta & Ellora, Humayun’s Tomb, Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Colva beach, Amer Fort, Somnath, Dholavira, Khajuraho, Hampi, Mahabalipuram, Kaziranga, Kumarakom and Mahabodhi. The Ministry shall be developing the sites with focus on issues concerning connectivity to the destination, better facilities for the tourists at the site, skill development, involvement of local community, promotion & branding and by bringing in private investment. The monuments taken up for development fall under the jurisdiction of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and State Archaeology Departments. The Ministry will carry out interventions at these monuments in collaboration with the ASI and State Government, and all development plans will have elements of universal accessibility, cleanliness at the monuments, use of green technology and enhanced security for the tourists.