Workers are taking off a board above the ticket office of the palace Museum, as the office is shutting down. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

BEIJING, Oct.11 (Xinhua)--The Palace Museum, or Forbidden City, in Beijing, announced Tuesday that, it will close its ticket windows, and all tickets will be sold only online from the day on.

After a trial run of online sales earlier this year, the museum decided to phase out selling paper tickets, a tradition that has lasted for 92 years, which means the scenario of massive visitors queueing up to buy a ticket will no longer to be seen.

Visitors in the Palace Museum (Xinhua Pic)

Shan Jixiang, curator of the Palace Museum, said this move will be more convenient for visitors, as it will slash down the time cost to enter the museum, making it easier to buy a ticket and visit the museum. At the same time, ticket speculators will see no profits in scalping tickets to vexed tourists.

While ticket windows are closed, special service windows will remain open for visitors who don't have a mobile phone, or have difficulty in booking tickets online. Guiding boards with QR codes will be placed at the entrance, and visitors who didn't book e-tickets beforehand can scan one on site.

Tourists are taking photos of the Palace Museum in sunset (Xinhua pic)

The museum will further streamline its management in the future, Shan said. With the support of big data analysis, the museum will offer tickets for different periods throughout a day, in a bid to avoid too many tourists at a time, according to Shan.