If you have plans to visit the taj mahal then you must also be thinking of hiring a tour guide who will facilitate your visit. Without a proper guide it takes more effort and time to accomplish a particular task.
How many kind of guides are authorised to guide the tourist at taj mahal?
Ans – there are three kinds of guides who are authorised to work as guides at the taj mahal.
- Department of tourism approved tour guide. These are tour guides who have been imparted training after selection by Ministry of tourism Government of India. They have been guiding tourist at the Indian monuments since last 60 odd years. These tour guides are authorised to work at all the destinations of India. This licence is the most coveted in the arena of tour guides. The department of tourism guides are further classified as per the experience.
- Platinum category – The tour guides who have experienced of more than 25 years are classified as the platinum category tour guide. It is said as you age you grow wiser so naturally this category of tour guides is the most experienced, the tour guides are also known as story tellers so the more you know the better story you will tell.
- The diamond category – These are the department of tourism approved guide who have more than 15 years of experience working as tour guide. These are a perfect balance of youth and experience. They are not very old but have years of experience in guiding the tourist at taj mahal.
- The Gold category – These are the youngest lot of the government of India tour guide. They have been perfectly curated for the job of tour guide.
- Utter Pradesh tourism approved tour guide – Agra the city of Taj Mahal lies in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, to facilitate the tourism activity in the state of Uttar Pradesh the government of Uttar Pradesh also inducts and trains guides who authorised to work in monuments which are in the state of Uttar Pradesh., there is no further sub categorisation of the guides categorised as UP tourism guides.
- Stay Guides – These are the guides who pleaded before the judiciary and got stay for working as guide at Taj Mahal. The stay is valid till the decision is made in the particular court case. This category is not a valid legal category of guides and are not trained or inducted by any authority.
Ques- Are language Guides available at Taj Mahal
Ans – yes Guides of languages such as English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian are available at the Taj Mahal. No Korean, Hebrew, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Arabic, Persian, Polish are available at Taj Mahal. Indian language guides speaking Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Hindi, Gujrati are also available at Taj Mahal. Tamil Telegu, Malayam, Kannad, Assamese language guides are not available at the Taj Mahal.
How to book a guide for Taj Mahal tour?
Ans – You can book a tour guide for Taj Mahal online as well as offline.
- Offline – You can book a tour guide from a office of the department of tourism government of India at Mall road Agra. You can also book a tour guide from UP Tourism office near hotel Clarks shiraj. You can also book tour guide from government of India approved tour operators like S.A.M Tours & Travels.
- Online – You can book a tour guide online easily from Government of India approved tour operators. You can also get a list of the guides along with their contact number from department of tourism website/IATO website/UP tourism website. It is better to pre book a tour guide before your tour of the Taj Mahal.
Quest- what are the charges for booking a tour guide at Taj Mahal?
Ans – the wages of the tour guide are dependent upon many factors like language, duration of the tour, strength of the tour group.
- Language – For a foreign language (Except English) extra charges are supposed to be paid to the guide. Minimum – 600 INR maximum -1000 INR depending upon the strengthen of the tour group.
- Duration of the tour – The tour is categorised as half/full day depending upon the number of hours/monuments visited. If only Taj Mahal is visited it is considered as a half day job while visit to the three monuments comes under a full day job. The minimum wages for the half day English speaking guide for a tour of Taj Mahal is 2050 INR while for full day tour charges are 2500 INR.
- Number of persons – The wages of the guides is also dependent on the strength of the tourist group. The minimum wages are for strength up to 1-5 person, as the strength of the group rises so does the wage of the guide employed.
Ques- Who decides the wages of the approved guide?
Ans – The wages of the guides are decided and updated by the department of tourism Government of India in consultation with tourism bodies like IATO (Indian Association of Tour Operator) TGFI (Tourist Guide federation of India). These wages are revised every two years.
Ques- What are the current valid guide wages for approved guide at Taj Mahal.
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