Eiffel Tower ticket increases. A bloodletting to visit the symbol of Paris

Going up the iconic Paris landmark tower from June 17 could be much more expensive. Yesterday, in fact, the Paris municipality passed a 20 percent increase in ticket prices to climb the Eiffel Tower. By Saturday the ratification of the decision. Prices for access to the top with use of the elevator will increase from the current 29.40 euros to 35.30 euros for adults, from 14.70 to 17.70 euros for 12- to 24-year-olds, and from 7.40 to 8.90 euros for children ages 4 to 11, the disabled, and their companion.

Even going up to the second floor will increase, while climbing stairs, from 11.80 to 14.20 euros for an adult, from 5.90 to 7.10 euros for a young person, and from 3 to 3.60 euros for a child (free for children under 4 and for holders of the ’active solidarity income,’ the French citizenship income). To have a comparison let’s think that the Louvre in January increased its ticket from 17 to 22 euros.

The risk of these price increases to climb up to the 309-meter height with a panoramic view of the City of Lovers had already been feared by the workers of the company that manages access to the Tower, who went on strike for six days last February denouncing the budget hole of the company (99 percent owned by the City of Paris), Sete. The unions’ criticism was of an overly ambitious and unsustainable model with the overestimation of ticketing revenue based on the target of 7.4 million tourists in a year. A level of attendance never recorded in its 135 years of being open to the public.

After a drop in visitor numbers to 1.5 million in 2020, the symbol of Paris and France returned in 2023 to a comparable turnout to 2019, close to 6 million visitors, but maintenance costs increased and lost revenue from the pandemic period weighed on the accounts: “In the period from 2020 to 2022, Sete (the monument’s management company) recorded an operating loss of about 113 million euros,” the city administration wrote in a statement. Added to these lost revenues were costs for renovation work, mainly related to the ongoing painting campaign, complicated by the discovery of traces of lead. A figure estimated by the municipality at 136 million euros.

Workers are demanding an account of the maintenance from the company and thus from the City of Paris, which has also come under attack for its financial management and goals. In fact, Thirst is very much in debt: “With Covid we lost 130 million in revenue because we were closed for almost a year, then there are the lead works, which rose to 120 million euros. Moral of the story: we end up with indebtedness that was not planned at all and is up to 100 million,” Stéphane Dieu explained as reported by Il Messaggero.

The negotiation on the renewal of the public service delegation contract until 2030 is also important for visitors who will want to go up since it will establish the cost of tickets (which will naturally increase): in 2023 as many as 6.3 million tourists went up, up from pre-Covid 2019.

Image: the Eiffel Tower. Photo: Anthony Delanoix

Eiffel Tower ticket increases. A bloodletting to visit the symbol of Paris

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