The bag that Paris sews for tourists’ pockets!

As final preparations are underway for Paris to host the Olympic Games this summer, museums in the city have increased ticket prices by up to 30 percent. General admission to the Louvre rose from 17 euros ($18.30) to 22 euros ($23.70) at the start of this year, including an additional 1 euro ($1.1) for entry to the Picasso Museum, 1.5 euros It will be for the Palace of Versailles and 2 euros for the Rodin Museum.

Commentators have stated that these new prices have been applied at the same time as the expected presence of about 15 million passengers to watch the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The Louvre has declined to comment publicly on the reasons for the price hike, but an anonymous museum employee said the Louvre is under pressure to finance various projects, including the construction of a new entrance, and the French government is refusing to provide more government funding. has done.

One of the curators at the Louvre museum says about this: “We agreed with the price increase, but not to this extent, especially in the inflationary conditions. This increase will alienate the local audience and it will be challenging to attract them.”

The French magazine Alternative Economic estimated that the Louvre museum’s decision to raise ticket prices at the same time as the number of tourists increases due to the Paris Olympics will bring in 44.3 million euros ($47.8 million) in revenue for them.

Eric Anso, a professor at the Sorbonne University, told the Times about this: “It is a shame that the Louvre museum increases the price of its entrance ticket by such an astronomical amount.”

30% of visitors to French municipal museums, which are usually free, come from lower socio-economic backgrounds, while only 13% of visitors to the much more expensive public museums in Paris are locals, and 70% are foreign tourists. They form.

Another professor at the University of Paris told Alternative Economic magazine: “With such a price increase, visiting a museum becomes something exceptional. However, a museum like the Louvre cannot be seen in one visit. Local visitors should be encouraged to visit regularly, for short periods of time, for example at lunchtime.”

Source: ISNA