Foreign Visitors to Taj Mahal Pay More

Most tourists come to India determined to see the Taj Mahal, the majestic marble mausoleum that is one of man’s great monuments to love.

But nowadays they’re likely to encounter tears, shouting matches and sit-ins outside the gates of the white marble memorial.

Many foreigners are shocked to discover that for them, the price of admission is $20--48 times more than Indians pay, and double what it was last year.

Proceeds are split evenly between the Archeological Survey of India, a national agency that oversees India’s 3,606 monuments, and the Agra Development Authority, which says it needs the money to improve the city.

Any visitor can see that Agra needs more than just sprucing up. Pigs root around in huge piles of garbage and open sewage drains. Potholes abound and the air is filthy, due to emissions from iron foundries and oil refineries and engine exhaust from trucks and cars.

The Taj Mahal was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, after she died giving birth to their 14th child.

Elephants hauled in tons of Jodhpur marble and an army of 20,000 stonemasons, gem cutters, marble fitters and laborers toiled for 22 years to complete the tomb in 1648.

It is one of the world’s great tourist destinations, for foreigners and Indians alike. But for many, the price of admission puts it out of reach.

On a recent day outside the Taj Mahal, Prisanthu Sirohi got into a heated argument with the guards.

The 26-year-old film student and his family are Indians who emigrated to Canada. He had bought a cheap ticket for himself, but guards suspicious about his Western accent and Caucasian girlfriend demanded to see his passport. He explained that he was born in India and that his father was in the Indian air force for 10 years.

Sorry, the guards told him. He would have to buy a $20 ticket, as his girlfriend had.

Sirohi said that as students they couldn’t afford another $20, so they stayed out. Sirohi’s two Indian cousins refused to go in without him.

Merchants and tour guides say the price dispute is affecting their income.

“This is the country of Gandhi, who taught us never to discriminate on the basis of caste, color or religion,” said Abhinav Jain, owner of the Agra Marble Shoppe by the Taj Mahal gates.

He said his sales of inlaid marble handicrafts are off at least 30%.

“Even the rich, five-star tourists are very direct about it,” Jain said. “They feel discriminated against. Ethically, it’s just wrong and it gives such a bad impression of India.”

Venkatraman Girish, a personnel manager in New Delhi who was visiting Agra for the first time in a decade, said he saw improvements to the Taj Mahal grounds and believed the prices were justified.

“If you went to Disneyland, you’d pay what, $50? So I think it’s worthwhile in the scheme of things,” he said.

At Disneyland, however, foreigners are not charged more than Americans. The entry fee at the Eiffel Tower in Paris is $9 for all nationalities. In Athens, the Acropolis is $5.50 for Greeks and foreigners alike.

However, it’s not uncommon to charge foreigners more in Third World countries, on the grounds that upkeep of tourist sites is expensive, and local people on meager wages can’t be expected to pay high ticket prices.

In India, foreign visitors are charged higher prices for airline and railroad tickets, hotels and museums.

“I don’t see any discrimination there,” Komal Anand, director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India, said of the Taj Mahal entry fees. “And the status of Indians is such that we can’t charge them these kinds of prices.”