Taj Mahal : Taj fed up with US Dollar
admin November 25th, 2007
Tourists visiting 27 World Heritage Listed sites in India, including the Taj Mahal, will no longer be able to pay in dollars after it was announced that the flailing currency was not welcome.
The new payment will cost tourists up to one-third more. Where tickets for the Taj Mahal and other World Heritage Listed sites had previously been set at $5, the new price of 250 rupees converts to approximately $6.50.
Many of India’s main sights have long charged a dollar based entrance based fee, but officials in India have now changed the fees to a flat-rate rupee charge. The Taj Mahal, one of the country’s biggest attractions, used to charge $5 to enter. This was when 1 dollar was good for 50 rupees. Now, with the dollar at an all-time low of 1 dollar for every 39 rupees, that means had the Indian government continued to charge in dollars, they were getting shortchanged by about 55 rupees per tourist at each sight. Overtime, that can really add up. The Ministry of Culture has now changed the pricing structure to reflect the weakness of the dollar, charging a 250 rupee entrance fee for the Taj Mahal. That comes to about $6.50 USD.
Indian residents, however, are extended a discounted rate of 20 rupees to visit their national sites.
A statement by India’s Ministry for Tourism and Culture said the government had decided to act “in view of the international practices and also to avoid any anomaly on account of falling exchange rates of the US dollar vis-a-vis the rupee and the consequent fall in revenues”.
“These rates have been fixed in line with international practices,” a ministry spokesman said. “It will avoid any anomaly on account of falling dollar-rupee exchange rates.”