Now, book online tickets to Victoria Memorial Hall
Subhro Niyogi
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Kolkata
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Victoria Memorial Hall is set to overhaul its ticketing system with the introduction of online tickets, ticket vending machine and point-ofsales (POS) terminals at counters.Online tickets will be of particular help in winters when the visitor count surges, leading to long queues at the ticket counters at the north and south gate. Across the world, tourists avail of online bookings at museums as well as historical monuments and sites, and even pay a premium to skip the queue.
“We have tied up with an online ticket-selling platform for online sale of tickets for regular visits to the garden and museum. It should start in twothree weeks. When we later introduce the Son et lumiere, the sound and light show, its tick ets will also be sold online,“ VMH curator and secretary Jayanta Sengupta said.
Unlike the current tickets sold across the counter that are valid for the day , the online tickets will have no validity deadline till it is produced at the gate and the quick response (QR) code is read using a hand-held scanner. Visitors will be required to produce a printed copy of the ticket with the QR code or display it on the cellphone for it to be read by the scanner.
Ticket to the garden that costs Rs 10 over the counter will be priced around Rs 11 while the Rs 20 ticket that includes both the garden and the museum will cost around Rs 22.Foreigners who currently pay Rs 200 for a ticket can buy it online for Rs 220.
Introduction of POS machines at the counters will enable visitors to purchase tickets using credit and debit cards.
VMH authorities have also written to Kolkata Municipal Corporation for a space on the footpath next to the north gate to install a ticket vending machine. They had also toyed with the idea of installing turnstiles but dumped it as it would have meant compromising with heritage elements at the gate.
“We have tied up with an online ticket-selling platform for online sale of tickets for regular visits to the garden and museum. It should start in twothree weeks. When we later introduce the Son et lumiere, the sound and light show, its tick ets will also be sold online,“ VMH curator and secretary Jayanta Sengupta said.
Unlike the current tickets sold across the counter that are valid for the day , the online tickets will have no validity deadline till it is produced at the gate and the quick response (QR) code is read using a hand-held scanner. Visitors will be required to produce a printed copy of the ticket with the QR code or display it on the cellphone for it to be read by the scanner.
Ticket to the garden that costs Rs 10 over the counter will be priced around Rs 11 while the Rs 20 ticket that includes both the garden and the museum will cost around Rs 22.Foreigners who currently pay Rs 200 for a ticket can buy it online for Rs 220.
Introduction of POS machines at the counters will enable visitors to purchase tickets using credit and debit cards.
VMH authorities have also written to Kolkata Municipal Corporation for a space on the footpath next to the north gate to install a ticket vending machine. They had also toyed with the idea of installing turnstiles but dumped it as it would have meant compromising with heritage elements at the gate.
News Sources : http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31812&articlexml=Now-book-online-tickets-to-Victoria-Memorial-Hall-11102017002013