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Tourism chiefs in India are proposing a new law that would make it a crime for beggars and ticket touts to touch tourists.

A ten per cent drop in the number of visitors to the Taj Mahal, arguably India's most famous tourist attraction, has been blamed on ticket touts harassing visitors to the area.

Newly elected minister for tourism Mahesh Sharma vowed to crack down on touts found harassing tourists during a meeting with tourism delegates.

Visitors to the Taj Mahal in Agra who reported being harassed may have contributed to the  drop in tourism

'There will be tough action against touts who are found harassing tourists coming from outside. It will not be tolerated,' he said.

A large number of visitors have been affected adversely by harassment around the area of the Taj Mahal, where visitors have complained on online forums and directly to tourism officials about harassment.

'The minister is aware of the hardships faced by tourists, especially women. He expressed concern and said a new law would be implemented to make harassment of tourists a crime,' said Rajiv Tiwari, president of the Federation of Travel Associations of Agra.

'Many tourists, both domestic and foreign, who visit the Taj Mahal return home feeling cheated, threatened and abused. Touts, guides, auto and taxi drivers, besides hotel owners, pounce on every opportunity to make a quick buck, and have no scruples in misleading and misinforming visitors to extract money.' 

In an attempt to boost tourism, visitors to India from 43 countries including the US will no longer have to queue at their local consulates to obtain visas in a recent move to ease border control

The Times of India has reported declining visitor numbers to other areas and tourist attractions in the country recently.

The growth in crime against women and its media coverage worldwide, especially the brutal rape and subsequent death of a 23 year-old student on a bus in Delhi in December 2012, have affected the tourism business adversely, officials report.

Other proposals from Sharma included making tourist taxis more secure by installing electronic chips to track their movement in the wake of concerns over safety following the rape and murder of a Delhi-based woman tourist and killing of her male friend in October.

Sharma said such measures would help protect both domestic and international tourists. "The first checkpoint is that after tourists disembark at our airports, we will give them the option of travelling by chip-enabled taxis, which would be secured. The complete bio-data of the taxi drivers will be available with us. It will be implemented in three months," he said.

The setting up of tourist facility centres and launching a heli-service to improve connectivity are some of the other priorities proposed by Sharma, who vowed to take tourism in India to 'a new high'.