Access to the Eiffel Tower is more expensive ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris, the reason given by the authorities being that they want to offset the huge costs of maintaining one of the top ten most visited monuments in the world.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris among the top ten most visited monuments in the world Photo Shutterstock
Fares were increased by 20% just before the opening of the 2024 Olympics after months of tensions between the company that manages “The iron Lady”
as the construction is also called Paris City Hall, regarding the income generated by this symbol of the City of Lights.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris France is 330 meters tall and its maintenance costs are commensurate.
Not many people know that there is another tower in Paris, the one in Montparnasse, from where dream views can also be admired, at much reduced prices, but also that since the beginning of the year there have been waves of price increases, and Parisians they were expecting new ones right around the 2024 Olympics, when the city is expected to be literally stormed by tourists like never before in its history.
The echoes of the scandal, far from extinguishing
The increase in the price of tickets is in force starting from June 17, 2024, but even after a week the echoes of the scandal regarding this price increase have not subsided.
Adults now have to pay 35 euros to contemplate the French capital, compared to the previous rate of 29.10 euros.
Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), the public company that operates the monument, hopes the revenue from the increase will help it recoup losses and balance its finances after prolonged closures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, this occasion also ended a labor dispute that led to its temporary closure. In February, tourists hoping to celebrate the month of love in the tower found it closed for five consecutive days due to a staff strike. A similar episode was in December 2023, on the 100th anniversary of the death of Gustave Eiffel, the French engineer whose company built the tower, on December 27.
2023 – the year with the most visitors to the Eiffel Tower in the last decade
Despite the company’s motivation regarding the financial situation, it should also be remembered that last year, the highest number of visitors in the last decade was recorded. Approximately 6.3 million people climbed the tower in 2023, the highest number since 2015.
It should also be mentioned that SETE is a public company owned 99% by the city of Paris. During the pandemic, the tower was closed for several months, with revenues reaching a quarter: 25 million euros compared to 99 million euros the previous year. The deficit also reached 113 million euros between 2020 and 2022, according to Paris City Hall estimates.
Bill of payment, paid by tourists
The maintenance costs of the tourist attraction also increased significantly, the additional expenses exceeding 130 million euros. Some of the 360 employees of the monument, however, claim that both SETE and the Paris City Hall are to blame for the increased bills, and now the bill is practically the responsibility of the tourists.
And it is not the only problem facing the monument. The engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose life-size figure can be admired right in the tower, left it to his descendants to repaint the Eiffel Tower every seven years, emphasizing the crucial importance of the process for the preservation of the metal structure. However, the last operation started in 2020, after 11 years compared to the previous one, also because of the additional maintenance costs, motivated by the people from SETE.
The company advocated the need to treat the lead found in previous layers of paint, for the first time a large-scale stripping of the tower before repainting.
Preservation of the metal structure, delayed two cycles, due to misunderstandings
The operation was supposed to take two years. For the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, the tower wanted to change its shade from greige (beige – gray) to yellow-brown, Eiffel’s favorite color. It’s just that the work is still far from being completed even though there is only a month left until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 26. Basically, the project is at least four years behind schedule.
SETE also motivated its problems by sharply increasing the license fee it pays to the city of Paris to operate the lens.
Accusations and half-told truths
The fee, which rose from 8 to 15 million euros in 2021, is scheduled to reach 50 million euros by 2025, company representatives say. The two unions of SETE consider the amount unreasonable and criticize the Paris City Hall for “the pursuit of profitability at all costs and in the short term”which would threaten the future of both the Eiffel Tower and the management company.
Even the French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, accused the mayor Anne Hidalgo that “financially ruined” Eiffel Tower.
In its defense, Paris City Hall claims that the license fee includes a variable component calculated on the basis of revenues and states that it has actually reduced the fee compared to what was initially foreseen in the agreement with SETE, recalling that it will reach 50 million but only in 2031.
The Eiffel Tower will be repainted until the 2024 Olympics
The increase in the price of tickets for visiting the Eiffel Tower was even approved by the Paris Municipal Council, towards the end of May when a financial support of 15 million euros was also voted for SETE, which they failed to mention. In addition, a recapitalization of 60 million euros was also accepted, in July 2021, to overcome the effects of the Covid pandemic.
And an additional investment of 156 million euros will be dedicated to the maintenance of one of the world’s greatest tourist attractions, including the completion of the repainting project to restore the object, inaugurated 135 years ago, to its former beauty and glory.
It should also be mentioned that for months the whole of Paris has been transformed into a huge construction site, especially all the tourist attractions, the superb statues on the side of the streets, of the bridges over the Seine being rehabilitated. Therefore, it was expected that the same attention would be paid to the symbol of Paris – the Eiffel Tower.
