A Case Study of Taj Mahal's Visitor Satisfaction and Carrying Capacity
A Case Study of Taj Mahal's Visitor Satisfaction and Carrying Capacity
A Case Study of Taj Mahal's Visitor Satisfaction and Carrying Capacity
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Tourist makes major contribution to Indian economy and employment rates. Tourism is generally less
harmful to the environment compared to other activities like industry. Due to large number of tourists, a
lot of environmental stress is being observed within the premises of Taj Mahal. There is a considerable
adverse impact on Taj Mahal due to the increase of touristic activities, which is envisaged to rise in
future. There is lack of studies on Taj Mahal in regards to international/ domestic visitor experience;
therefore a scientific study - in the vicinity of Taj Mahal - with a view to assess the impact of tourist flow
has been done. It has been concluded that the maximum number of tourists could be determined so
that environmental conditions of Taj Mahal premises and its vicinity are maintained. Moreover, 503
surveying and questionnaires were carried out to gauge the level of the visitor’s satisfaction.
Key words: Taj Mahal, world heritage, carrying capacity, tourist influx, tourist feedback, visitor difficulties, visitor
satisfaction.
INTRODUCTION
Agra is the city of the inimitable Taj Mahal. It was the 1631 to 1648, employing twenty thousand workers. Taj
Mughals who nurtured Agra with the finest monuments Mahal represents the finest architectural and artistic
architects could design. Agra has a reputation of being achievement through perfect harmony and excellent
one of the hottest towns in India; hottest in terms of both, craftsmanship in a whole range of Indo-Islamic sepulchral
tourist destination as well as temperature. Taj Mahal is architecture. Due to heavy crowd at Taj Mahal premises,
one of the Seven Wonders of the World, The coveted title lot of problems have being observed resembling
of the World Heritage site is granted by United National pollution, loss of open space, and degradation of historic
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization site, cultural effects, and irritation due to tourist behavior.
(UNESCO). Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan, the fifth Therefore, this study emphasizes the satisfaction level of
mughal ruler, in the memory of his beloved queen different attributes of the tourists who visited Taj Mahal.
Arjumand Banu Begam entitled as Muntaz-uz-Zamanin or In fact, the success of the tourism industry depends on
Muntaz Mahal. The majestic well proportionate the level of satisfaction given by the tourists. The tourists
mausoleum and other structural elements of Taj Mahal will be satisfied when they acquire quality services and
complex were built in long time span of 17 years from warm hospitality. Satisfied travelers will be pleased to tell
Authors agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License 4.0 International License
44 J. Hosp. Manage. Tourism
Inside Taj Mahal attribute/ service availed
Entry Fee
Cleanliness
Sanitary Facilities
Photographer
Guide
Service / Assistance
Security
the parking facilities, local transport, guides, photo- area used by tourists were limited vis-à-vis physical
graphers, hawkers/canvassers, surrounding ambience, carryng capacity of tourist flow. There is a need to
and outside sanitary facilities. remodel the tourist flow in as well as outside through
various internentions as to enhance physical carrying
capacity.
Carrying capacity study The average time spent by a tourist starting from ticket
purchase, visit the mausoleum and exit was found to be
The concept of carrying capacity addresses the question 2.5 h. The required times to see some major locations
of how many people can be permitted into Taj Mahal have been graphically distributed as shown in Figure 6.
without risk of degrading the site and the visitor’s To calculate the physical carrying capacity of Taj with
experience (Graefe et al., 1984). It has generally been respective tourists, the area available for each tourist was
broken down into three categories: Physical, ecological calculated using GIS for the Red marble area and white
and social (Rastegar, 2010). marble area as shown in Table 1.
Physical carrying capacity called “facility carrying
capacity” by the World Tourism Organization mostly has
to do with available space the number of beds available Worst case scenario (Taj Mahal at its full potential)
to overnight guests, how many vehicles would fill a
parking lot, how many campers in a campground, seats The total area available on the red and white floor =
in a theatre, and so on. Concomitant to such 23,898 m2; the physical carrying capacity of the area
considerations is the question of fresh water and (Red and white Floor) = Total area/minimum area
electricity supply (Rose et al., 2014). required by a person = 23,898 m2 / (0.3716 m 2/ visitor)
= 59,594 visitor .
The carrying capacity along the road length is calculated
Physical carrying capacity study by:
Figure 3. Area in m2 of red marble floor and white platform within Taj Mahal boundary.
Figure 5. Area in m2 of each part excluding pathway within Taj Mahal boundary.
30 160
Cumulative time to complete the trip
Actual time spent at each location
Figure 6. Graphical representation of average times spent by a tourist to complete his visit.
48 J. Hosp. Manage. Tourism
Table 1. Calculation of the physical carrying capacity of Taj 1. Proper collection and sanitary disposal of solid wastes.
with respective tourists (the area available for each tourist was 2. High standard public toilets to meet the tourist’s
calculated using GIS for the Red marble area and white marble
area as shown).
requirements.
3. Separate parking facilities for foreign tourist’s vehicles
Location Area (m )
2 and for locals.
4. Development of Local Park - like Shahjahan Garden -
Red Marble area 18,478
for tourists and also for local visitors.
White platform 5,420 5. The number of middle level hotels in the vicinity of Taj
Road area 16,607 Mahal is low; therefore visitors prefer to go back, on the
Assuming that: The minimum space required for a person to same day.
move in comfort = 0.3716 m 2/ person; The average distance 6. More number of budget hotels with better amenities
between two persons = 0.5 m; The average required time to
complete the tour = 2.5 h; The maximum number of people in
along with well trained and well cultured guides should be
a group (including guide) = 15 No; The average distance made available to tourists folks all along 24 h services.
between two groups = 5 m; Open Period (sunrise to sunset) of 7. Facility of providing the services of an international
Taj Mahal (approx.) = 12 h; The Total road length available for level airport, so that the air tourists may drop at this
tourists to move along = 2,393 m.
airport and reach their destination point at Agra without
wasting their time instead of being dropped at Delhi
airport and reach Agra by road or train.
8. Restricting the passage of heavy traffic through the city
X = 120 group
by constructing a bypass.
9. Improvement of the existing roads condition and
Open period is 12 h/day; each tour is about 2.5 h, thus
categorization of the roads according to traffic load and
the number of visits per day is 4.8 times.
characteristics of vehicle and direction of flow.
PCC along the road length = X * 15 * 4.8 = 8,640 visitor
10. Development of visitor’s information centres nearby
Total Physical carrying capacity of Taj = (1) + (2) =
Taj Mahal.
59,594 + 8,640 = 68,234 Visitor per day.
11. Drinking water and toilet facilities should be increased
in nearby area.
12. Number of ticket windows should be increased. There
Present status
are 10 tickets windows available. Four windows situated
at east gate, four at west gate and two at south gate only.
At present as per observation only 50% (approx.) of the 13. Taj entrance occupied by nearly 2,000 unauthorized
area on both red and white floor regions being utilized by photographers and touts who accost the visitors on the
the tourists. street and in the monument. It threatens the complex
The physical carrying capacity of the area (Red and security, hence it is recommended to reintroduction of
white Floor) = 50% of 59,594 visitor = 29,797 visitor; PCC allotment of licenses by concerned authority to
along the road length = 8,640 Visitor professional photographers and license/ approval of
Total PCC with respective tourists = 29,797 + 8,640 = guides be done by a single government department.
38,437 Visitor/day 14. The entry of unapproved guides and photographers
But the actual tourist’s level observed was 5 to 7% and touts in and around Taj Mahal should be totally
more than the value obtained, which is due to the free banned.
entrance of children below 15 years of age. 15. Taj Mahal proximity needs to be made
encroachment-free to attract more visitors, this will also
encourage tourists to spend more time in Agra.
Conclusions 16. Number of metal detectors should be augmented.
17. In summer Agra’s temperature might reach 48°C so it
Managing a huge number of tourists on daily basis is should be proposed to provide umbrella to high category
considered as a big challenge. Further, providing tickets.
adequate amenities and facilities to tourists are another
important aspects which need to be ensured efficiently all
times. The aspirations, opportunities and quality of life of Conflict of Interests
the people residing or the people associated with tourist
related activities in the vicinity of Taj Mahal needs to be The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.
addressed to ensure sustainability of developmental
activity/modernization plan proposed around Taj Mahal REFERENCES
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