Why the Taj became a crown

Giving it even more exclusivity, like a king's crown, the government announced a hike in the entry ticket price for Indian domestic tourists visiting the Taj Mahal, Agra by 525 per cent - from Rs 40 to Rs 250.The increase, effective April 1, will see the introduction of a new Rs 200 ticket for visiting the main mausoleum, along with a hike in the entry fee from Rs 40 to Rs 50.The move to increase the ticket prices comes over a month after the government toyed with the idea of capping the daily number of domestic tourists at 40,000.

A Mughal-era monument, built by Shahjehan, the Taj Mahal is already the most expensive monument for foreign tourists in India, who shell out Rs 1,250 for a view of the marble monument. Nationals of SAARC and BIMSTEC countries shell out Rs 530 per visit.

Taj Mahal contributes 23 per cent of the revenues India earns from tourists visiting its national monuments - the highest share. In 2015-16, it earned Rs 23.88 crore compared to Rs 21.23 crore earned in the year before that.

The move to increase prices for domestic tourists may impact their numbers, given that footfalls of Indian tourists at Taj Mahal saw a decline of 5.2 per cent in 2016, vis-a-vis 2015 - from 58.42 lakh domestic tourists in 2015, to 55.40 lakh in 2016.

The new tickets, which are expected to bar-coded, will have a validity of three hours - the objective being better crowd management at the mausoleum.