An e-ticketing facility was launched Friday for the Taj Mahal and Humayun's Tomb on a pilot basis, as also a helpline number to ensure safety of domestic and international tourists.
This is the beginning of a journey to cleanliness, safety and hospitality to improve the tourism experience of people visiting our country, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Mahesh Sharma said at an event here to mark Good Governance Day.
"We had this attitude that 'sab chalta hai' (everything works like this), but now this won't happen. If this casual attitude was the way of life, it won't be there anymore," he added.
Ever since Sharma took charge of the tourism ministry, he has been emphasising on creating a safer environment for tourists coming to India and the launch of Incredible India toll free helpline number - 1800-111-363 - is in pursuance of this.
"The facility currently is available in two languages - Hindi and English - across six lines. We will be introducing international languages like German, Russian and French soon," said Sharma.
Tickets for the Taj Mahal and Humayun's Tomb can now also be booked 90 days in advance. Payment can be made via debit card, credit card or through net banking and there are three categories of tickets for visitors viz foreign visitor, Saarc visitor and domestic visitor.
Sharma also released a book in Braille on Delhi's monuments.
"This is the best time that the stakeholders become partners because development is not possible without them. We will have inputs from stakeholders and discuss issues with them and see how those inputs can be included in our final decision making process," said Sharma.
Sharma also said during the period between January-November, India received a total of 6.8 lakh visitors which is the highest number of visitors received till November in any year during the last decade, also showing a commendable increase of 7.1 percent over the previous year.
He said that 2014 "will remain a historic year for tourism industry since the government implemented the first phase of Tourist Visas on Arrival (TVOAs) enabled by Electronic Travel Authorisation."
"Because of this early 16,000 visas were processed since its launch Nov 27," he added.
Sharma also highlighted the importance of spiritualism related tourism and said the government has formulated two new schemes for pilgrimage rejuvenation and spiritual augmentation as well as heritage city development.
