India’s tourism minister explained the decision to prefer rupees over dollars as an economic one.
For years tourists visiting most sites in India were charged either $5, or 250 rupees.
After falling 11 percent in 2007, hitting nine-year lows to hoover around 39 rupees, the dollar is out.
Charging only rupees now seems more practical and will save tourists money because “the dollar was weaker against the rupee,” Tourism Minister Ambika Soni told the CNN-IBN news channel.
Entrance to the Taj Mahal will now cost Americans about $20 more. India is a country Western tourists shouldn’t fear visiting, though keep in minds their roads are the most dangerous in the world – second to Iraq.