New Delhi: Union Minister of Tourism and Culture, Mahesh Sharma, Friday launched e-ticketing facility for the Taj Mahal and Humayun’s Tomb on a pilot basis, and a helpline number to ensure safety of domestic and international tourists.

Today’s (Friday’s) announcements are the beginning of a journey to cleanliness, safety and hospitality to improve the tourism experience of people visiting our country, Sharma said at an event 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 is in pursuance of that.

“The facility currently is available in two languages – Hindi and English across 6 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.