Visiting the Louvre will soon cost more than ever, as the world's biggest museum seeks to cover rising costs without lifting caps on crowds.
Ticket prices are set to climb from €17 to €22 next month, an increase of nearly 30 percent.
The hike, which comes into effect from 15 January, is the first time the museum has raised its prices since 2017.
It comes around six months before the 2024 Paris Olympics, which are expected to flood the French capital with tourists from around the world.
International visitors remain the most valuable for the museum, which offers various discounts for residents of France, including for under-26s, people with disabilities, jobseekers and people receiving welfare, teachers and people working in the arts.
More than half of all French visitors entered the museum for free in 2023, the Louvre stressed in a statement announcing the price increase.
Soaring energy bills
The museum, whose exhibition space covers nearly 73,000 square metres, said it had seen its energy bills rise by 88 percent.
Visitor numbers have been capped at 30,000 per day since mid-2022 to avoid overcrowding, a limit that the Louvre said would remain in place next year for the sake of the palace and its collection as well as for visitors themselves.
Before Covid-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions throttled tourism, as many as 50,000 visitors used to stream into the museum each day.
But the museum is considering staying open for a second evening each week from April 2024, it said. Currently it only opens late on Fridays, but if an agreement is reached with staff and unions it could also remain open on Wednesday evenings.
Renovation plans
Ticket sales brought in €76.5 million in 2022, according to its financial statements, a sum that covered only a quarter of its operating costs.
The rest of its funding comes from the French culture ministry and other sources including private partnerships and sponsorship, such as its lucrative contract for an outpost in Abu Dhabi.
As well as keeping the lights on, the Louvre also needs funds to carry out maintenance and renovations – including the project to open a second entrance and ease pressure on the central gate beneath the glass pyramid.
