They came to see the National Museum. But the online ticketing system turned them away

Md Nazim Uddin’s wife and children have come to Dhaka from their home in Brahmanbaria to see him. They wanted to see the National Museum during their visit, but were surprised to find that it is only open to visitors who have bought tickets online.

Rasel Sarker Dhaka University Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 10 Sept 2021, 05:09 PM
Updated : 10 Sept 2021, 05:09 PM

Not having known of this situation before, Nazim spent a frustrating hour trying to purchase tickets before the family was forced to cancel their plans.

“Everything’s finally reopening after such a long time,” Nazim told bdnews24.com. “My children were so excited to come to Dhaka and see the museum, but we’re having to turn back because we didn’t get tickets. I tried to get a ticket for nearly an hour, but they’ve already run out.”

Many others who tried to visit the museum on Friday met the same hurdle of online ticketing.

After a seven-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the National Museum reopened on a ‘limited scale’ on Nov 1 last year. Then came the various lockdowns. Finally, on Aug 23, the museum opened all its galleries to visitors. But the museum administration decided to limit sales to 1,000 online tickets a day.

As on any holiday, the National Museum was open from 3 pm to 8 pm on Friday. But crowds began to gather in the area in the afternoon. Many visitors, unaware of the limited ticket sales, tried to grab any that were still available on their smartphones. But the process of registering on the museum website, buying the tickets and paying the fee caused problems for many.

Those who did not have smartphones could try to buy the Tk 20 tickets for Tk 30 at the mobile recharging stores nearby. As tickets ran out, many had to cancel their plans to visit the museum.

Bangladeshis were not the only ones having trouble with the online ticketing system.

A group of six visitors from the US were left waiting for over an hour as they tried to get in.

After multiple failed attempts to pay for tickets on their debit card, they eventually sought help from two security guards and managed to pay through a nearby FlexiLoad store.

“After coming here, we learned that we had to buy tickets online,” James Charles, a member of the group, told bdnews24.com. “We spent quite a bit of time trying to get tickets. Though we were able to register, we had trouble with the payment options.”

Tom Baez, a visitor to Bangladesh from the UK, fell victim to the same problem and had to cancel his plans to see the museum.

“I come to Bangladesh regularly,” he said. “I’ve visited the National Museum before. I bought tickets directly then. But this time I came here and heard I had to buy the tickets online.”

“I tried for quite some time, but there were multiple connection errors. Sometimes it would get stuck on ‘payment pending’. It didn’t work, so I have to scrap the trip for today.”

Ilias Hossain and his daughter came to Dhaka from Panchagarh for her dental examinations. Their plans to visit the museum were also disrupted by the online ticketing.

“We wanted to see the National Museum since we came to Dhaka,” he said. “But we couldn’t get tickets.”

“It’s hard being turned away when you go somewhere for a visit,” said Mahbubur Rahman from Shyamoli, who stood in line to buy a Tk 20 museum ticket for Tk 30 at a phone recharging shop.

“So, I’ll pay the extra Tk 10 for the tickets.”

“But not everyone can do that. They shouldn’t really have tried using this online system for everyone. They should have kept some tickets available at the entrance. Many people came from far away and had to turn back.”

“It costs about Tk 22-23 to buy a ticket online,” said an online ticket scalper who did not wish to give his name. “We have a business. We charge some people Tk 25, some Tk 30.”

“Our Board of Trustees instituted this online ticketing system to limit visitors in light of the COVID-19 situation,” said Khondoker Mostafizur Rahman (NDC), the director general of the National Museum, when asked about the situation.

“We are operating accordingly. We will begin physical sales of tickets when the situation improves.”

Regarding the difficulties visitors have been facing getting tickets, he said:

“This is the age of smartphones. Everyone can buy their own tickets. You don’t even need a printed copy of the ticket. If you bring the number, or show your mobile at the entrance, you can get in.”

“In order to eliminate scalpers we have limited each email address to only five tickets. If someone acting as a broker is brought to our notice, we will take legal action against them.”