The increase in ticket prices to visit the Eiffel Tower comes in an attempt to offset the high cost of its maintenance, France 24 reported.
The price hike comes just weeks before the opening of the 2024 Olympic Games and after months of tension between the Iron Lady’s management company and Paris Town Hall over the revenue generated by this symbol of the City of Light. Due to the fact that the Eiffel Tower is one of the ten most visited sightseeing in the world, rising 330 metres above Paris, maintenance costs are now reaching comparable peaks.
On 24 May, the Paris City Council approved a 20 per cent increase in ticket prices to visit the Eiffel Tower. The ticket price increase is in effect from 17 June. Adults now have to pay more than €35 to visit the top of the Tower.
Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), the public company (99 per cent owned by the city of Paris) that manages the attraction, expects to balance its books, which have suffered from the prolonged closure of the Eiffel Tower.
The company 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 earned €25 million compared to €99 million the year before. Paris Town Hall estimates the deficit will reach €113 million between 2020 and 2022. The council also voted to recapitalise SETE for €60 million, which will go to deal with the effects of the Covid pandemic.
SETE is also required to make up for a sharp increase in the licence fee it pays to the city of Paris to operate the attraction. The fee, which increased from €8 million to €15 million in 2021, is due to rise to €50 million by 2025. The two SETE unions consider the amount unreasonable and criticise the Paris Town Hall for its desire to enrich itself at the expense of the landmark.
In addition, facility maintenance costs have risen sharply, with extra costs of over €130 million. A large-scale cleaning of the tower prior to painting took place for the first time, though the mission is far from complete: the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on 26 July is just over a month away, and the project is four years behind schedule.
