Tourists and visitors can now book tickets online for 141 sites falling under ASI in India
In an industry first, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), premier organization under the Ministry of Culture for the archaeological researches and protection of the cultural heritage of the nation, has inked a Memorandum of Understating (MoU) with BookMyShow, India’s largest online entertainment ticketing platform and Yatra.com, one of India’s leading online travel agency. This MoU will enable overseas and domestic tourists and visitors to conveniently book their tickets online for 141 historical monuments, museums and sites in India, such as Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar, Ajanta and Ellora caves, Red Fort, Sun Temple, which fall under the purview of ASI.
The move, aimed towards supporting Government of India’s ‘Digital India’ initiative, will facilitate digitization of ASI’s service offerings, thereby providing fast track access and a world-class e-ticket booking experience to visitors. The partnership with BookMyShow and Yatra (the only OTA to provide this facility) will also be significant in promoting tourism and cultural heritage in India. The online booking services comes at no additional cost for a customer.
Commenting on this partnership, Karan Arora, General Manager- Business Development, BookMyShow said, “Monuments and historical sites not only give a glimpse of our rich heritage, culture and art that spans over hundreds of years, they also form a solid foundation for the tourism sector in India; their marvels attracting millions of people from across the world and from within our own country. The Archaeological Survey of India has taken lead in expanding e-ticketing for this segment. We are excited to work with them to innovate within this space and introduce unmatched convenience while contributing to the Government’s Digital India initiative. With BookMyShow’s vast reach, user friendly platforms, secure payment systems and innovations such as the m-ticket (mobile ticket, which allows users entry straight into the venue premises without waiting in long queues), we are confident that we will be able to increase adoption for e-ticketing through this initiative and bring more people online.”
Speaking on the partnership, Dhiresh Sharma, Chief Business Officer, Activities - Yatra, said, “India has an extraordinary and diverse pool of cultural & built heritage & footfalls to such destinations are astounding. Therefore, we want to provide a high-quality visitor experience which will empower the visitors (both Indian & International tourists) to book their tickets to these monuments online. In addition to providing online booking services, Yatra will be extending its platform for promoting cultural heritage and featuring all the essential information that a visitor needs to plan their sight-seeing: connectivity & access; opening & closing timings & facilities available along with write-ups on the monuments. We believe that this initiative, in partnership with The Archaeological Survey of India, will drive the convenience of ‘digital’ to all those planning to visit these sites and reiterate Yatra’s position of being ‘India ka travel planner’.”
The tickets for the 141 monuments, museums, and sites, managed by ASI, are now available online on BookMyShow and Yatra platforms (website, mobile app and mobile web).
BookMyShow is India’s biggest entertainment destination. Over the years, the company has transformed from a purely online ticketing player for movies, sports, plays and events. Today, with a presence in over 650 towns and cities in India, BookMyShow works with partners across the industry to provide unmatched entertainment experiences to millions of customers, on par with global entertainment standards. It is constantly innovating to increase its ownership share in the Indian entertainment value chain by relying heavily on its analytic capabilities and incisive understanding of customers. Along the way BookMyShow has produced music concerts and theatricals, introduced audio entertainment service Jukebox, built India’s largest organic reviews and ratings engine for movies and has driven technology innovations, such as the m-ticket, impacting both users and the industry at large.
Since its launch in 2007, BookMyShow has been committed to its customers. With continued support from investors Stripes Group, Network 18 (Reliance), Accel Partners and SAIF Partners, BookMyShow (which is part of Bigtree Entertainment, founded in Mumbai in 1999), is invested in providing the best user experience, whether it’s on-ground at an event or online. Demonstrating category leadership, BookMyShow has expanded its operations to Sri Lanka and Indonesia and has invested in companies including Do-It-Yourself events registration and ticketing platform Townscript and Fantain, a fantasy sports platform for Cricket and Kabaddi. It is also committed to society at large by way of their charity initiative BookASmile, which provides entertainment experiences to the underprivileged. For more information, please visit www.bookmyshow.com
Yatra Online, Inc is the parent company of Yatra Online Pvt Ltd which is based in Gurgaon, India and is one of India’s leading online travel companies and operates the website Yatra.com. The company provides information, pricing, availability, and booking facility for domestic and international air travel, domestic and international hotel bookings, holiday packages, buses, trains, in city activities, inter-city and point-to-point cabs, homestays and cruises. As a leading platform of accommodation options, Yatra provides real-time bookings for more than 83,000 hotels in India and over 800,000 hotels around the world.
- Customers can access Yatra in multiple ways: through a user-friendly website, mobile optimized
- WAP site and applications, a multi-lingual call centre, a countrywide network of Holiday Lounges and
- Yatra Travel Express stores.
Launched in August 2006, Yatra was ranked the Most Trusted e-Commerce Travel Brand in India in the Economic Times Brand Equity Survey 2016 for the second successive year and has won the award for ‘First Prize - Domestic Tour Operator (Rest of India)’ at the India Tourism Awards held in July 2016.
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