Taj Mahal sets time limit for visitors at three hours

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As one of the most popular UNESCO World Heritage sites, Taj Mahal in India has set a new time limit for its visitors from Sunday, announcing that visits would be capped within three hours.

As the Times of India reports, tickets are time-stamped and manually checked at the exit. Visitors will have to buy a new one if they exceed the time limit.

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According to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), during peak season, Taj Mahal can receive up to 50,000 visitors in a single day. The new measure aims to preserve the iconic mausoleum by managing crowds and reducing congestion inside.

The move came after news released in January 2018, which said that ASI was likely to restrict the number of local visitors to 40,000 per day.

But superintendent archaeologist Bhuvan Vikram said that if the new time limit proposals were successful, officials would not have to cap entry to the monument.

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To struggle with overcrowding, many popular tourist attractions around the globe have taken different measures.

The Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, launched a scheme in 2015 to restrict the number of visitors to 80,000 per day.

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It even closed its ticket window in 2017 and sold tickets online only, trying to cut down the wait time when buying the tickets and improve the visiting experience.