Entry to 116 key historical monuments under the ASI across the country, including the Red Fort, Qutab Minar and Ajanta-Ellora caves, became costlier from Friday.
The government effected a three-fold hike in the entry fee for the monuments for domestic visitors and 100 per cent for foreign tourists.
For the 32 ‘World Heritage Monuments’, the ticket price has been increased to Rs. 30 from Rs. 10 for domestic visitor, while entry fee for foreign nationals has been hiked to Rs.500 from Rs. 250, the Culture Ministry said in a statement.
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation countries are treated on par with Indians and are charged similarly.
For monuments other than the World Heritage ones, the entry fee has been increased three-fold to Rs. 15 from Rs. 5 for domestic visitors, while foreigners will have to pay Rs. 200 against Rs. 100.
“The enhancement comes after a period of more than 15 years as the last increase took place in 2000...The enhanced rates are at par with entry fee at monuments abroad,” the statement said.
Foreign visitors have the option to purchase a ticket for a higher amount of Rs.750 for World Heritage monuments which will come with additional facilities, while the fee for such tickets is fixed at Rs.300 for other monuments, according to an ASI notification.
“Better facilities in the form of free bottled water, wi-fi connectivity, mementos and CDs with pictures and films of monuments would be offered to tourists purchasing high value tickets of Rs. 750 and Rs.300. This would also generate additional revenue for the government,” the statement said.
Rates for filming purposes have also been increased to Rs. 1 lakh a day with Rs. 50,000 as refundable security deposit for World Heritage Monuments and Rs. 50,000 with Rs. 10,000 security for other sites.
Last year, the ministry had announced that it would implement the hike in entry fee for monuments across the country from November 1 but it was postponed due to pressure from the tourism lobby. — PTI
