Ticket prices for visiting the Eiffel Tower have been raised 20 percent in a bid to offset its sky-high maintenance costs. The increase comes just weeks before the opening of the 2024 Olympics and after months of tensions between the "Iron Lady"'s management company and Paris City Hall over the revenues generated by this symbol of the City of Light.
The Eiffel Tower is one of the 10 most-visited monuments in the world. Rising 330 metres above the Parisian skyline, its maintenance costs are now reaching comparable summits.
To cope with this burden, a hike in ticket prices has been in effect since June 17. Adults must now pay more than €35 to contemplate the French capital from atop the "Iron Lady", a 20-percent increase of the previous fare of €29.10.
With the proceeds from the price hike – which applies to all tickets – the Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), the public company operating the landmark, hopes to rebalance its books, which took a hit from the extended closures of the Covid-19 pandemic, and turn the page on a labour dispute that led to the tower’s temporary closure in February.
Tourists who had hoped to visit the Eiffel Tower between the 19th and 24th of February were disappointed to find it closed due to a strike. A few days earlier, the monument’s two staff unions announced they would stop work to demand a “viable and realistic economic model” for the tower.
Employees had struck for the same reason on December 27, 2023, the 100th anniversary of the death of Gustave Eiffel, the French engineer whose company built the tower.
Delayed repainting
The Eiffel Tower has lost none of its appeal as a tourist attraction. In 2023, some 6.3 million visitors gave the monument its highest tally since 2015.
SETE, a public company that is 99-percent owned by the city of Paris, is struggling to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Tower closed for several months, leading to a fourfold drop in revenue in 2020, when the site took in €25 million compared to €99 million the year before. The shortfall reached €113 million for the years 2020 to 2022, according to estimates by Paris City Hall.
At the same time, maintenance costs at the site have shot up, with additional expenses exceeding €130 million. Some of the monument’s 360 employees point the finger at SETE and at Paris City Hall, claiming that delays have increased the bill.
Eiffel himself originally instructed that the tower be repainted every seven years, emphasising the crucial importance of the process for preserving the metal structure. However, the 20th repainting operation began in 2020, 11 years after the previous one.
Read moreGoing for gold: Eiffel Tower gets facelift ahead of 2024 Paris Olympics
SETE blames the extra maintenance costs on the need to treat for lead discovered in previous coats of paint, because for the first time, a large-scale stripping of the tower before its repainting was undertaken. The repainting had been due to last two years and give the monument a facelift in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics, as well as change the tower's hue from gray beige to yellow brown, Eiffel's favourite colour. But the task is far from complete with just over a month to go before the Games’ July 26 opening ceremony. The project is at least four years behind schedule.
Licence fee
SETE must also make up for a sharp increase in the licence fee it pays to the city of Paris for operating the landmark.
The fee, which increased from 8 to €15 million in 2021, is set to rise to €50 million by 2025. SETE’s two unions deem the amount unreasonable and criticise Paris City Hall for its “pursuit of profitability at all costs and in the short term”, threatening the future of both the Eiffel Tower and its management company.
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati, who sits with the opposition on the Paris City Council, drove the point home in late May when she accused Mayor Anne Hidalgo of “financially ruining” the Eiffel Tower.
The city points out that the licence fee includes a variable component calculated on the basis of revenue, and asserts that it has reduced the fee relative to what was envisaged in its agreement with SETE. This effort represents “€50 million in foregone revenue” until the end of the contract, pushed back to the end of 2031, according to deputy mayor Paul Simondon.
Paris City Council approved the 20-percent increase in the price of tickets to visit the Eiffel Tower, as well as a €15-million financial boost for SETE, on May 24. The council had also voted for a €60-million recapitalisation for the management company, aimed at overcoming the effects of the Covid pandemic, in July 2021.
The new measures negotiated in February to end the six-day strike aim to enable a return to balanced finances by 2025. SETE's managers are working to set up a body to help employees to stay informed of the Eiffel Tower’s business model and maintenance work.
An additional investment of €156 million will be dedicated to site maintenance work, including the conclusion of the 20th repainting project to restore the Iron Lady, inaugurated 135 years ago, to her former youthful glory.
This article has been translated from the original in French.
