The Louvre Museum in Paris has raised ticket prices for non-EU visitors, including tourists from the UK and China.
Since Jan. 14th, the Louvre Museum in Paris has increased ticket prices for most non-EU visitors. Tickets now cost €32 (£28), up from €22 (£19), a rise of around 45%. This affects visitors from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
The new pricing is already in effect. According to CNS, museum staff are checking passports at the ticket counters to make sure visitors pay the correct fee. On the first day, the number of visitors appeared slightly lower than usual. Some non-EEA tourists described the €32 (£28) ticket as “quite expensive.”
France’s Culture Minister, Rima Abdul-Malak, supports the differentiated pricing, saying that visitors from outside the EU should contribute more. The museum’s staff union, however, strongly opposes the increase and has called for strikes, also demanding better working conditions.
Last year, the Louvre welcomed 9 million visitors, with foreign tourists accounting for 73% of the total. Around 40% of these came from outside the EEA. The museum expects the price increase to bring in an extra €15–20 million (£13–18 million) each year, which will help fund long-standing security improvements.
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