The Louvre Museum in Paris has announced that it will raise ticket prices for most non-EU visitors, meaning American, British, Chinese and other tourists will have to pay $37 to enter.
The museum told AFP that the 45 percent price hike aims to boost annual revenue by up to $23 million to fund structural improvements at the world's most visited art museum, which is grappling with the fallout from the open theft of priceless works last month.
From 2026, visitors from outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway will have to pay 32 euros – 10 euros more – starting on January 14, the museum and staff unions said after the measure was approved at a museum board meeting.
A 2024 report published by the Louvre showed that it welcomed 8.7 million visitors that year, of whom 69 percent were foreigners.
Americans were the most numerous, while Chinese visitors came in third, the report said.
The museum told AFP that the price increase aims to provide up to 20 million euros a year to address "structural problems".
On October 19, a gang of four people raided the Louvre, taking just seven minutes to steal jewelry worth an estimated $102 million before fleeing on scooters.
An official investigation showed that safety equipment was missing, and the museum's management has warned about the state of its facilities.
Labor unions criticized the decision to remove the universal entrance fee for all nationalities, with one of them, the CFDT, warning that this would be perceived as "discrimination."
