Most non-EU visitors will pay 45 per cent more to visit Louvre

Tourists wait in line to visit the Louvre museum as it reopens, in Paris, Wednesday, May, 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Paris’s Louvre museum said Thursday it would raise ticket prices for most non-EU visitors, meaning U.S., British and Chinese tourists among others will have to pay US$37 to get in.

The museum told AFP the 45 per cent price hike aims to boost annual revenues by up to US$23 million to fund structural improvements at the world’s most-visited art museum, which is reeling from the daylight theft of priceless treasures last month.

From 2026, visitors from outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway will have to pay 32 euros -- an extra 10 euros -- from Jan. 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 it received 8.7 million visitors that year, of which 69 per cent were foreigners.

Americans were the most numerous with Chinese visitors in third place, it said.

The museum told AFP that the price rise aimed to raise up to 20 million euros a year to tackle “structural problems”.

On Oct. 19, a four-person gang raided the Louvre, taking just seven minutes to steal jewelry worth an estimated US$102 million before fleeing on scooters.

An official investigation indicated that security equipment was lacking, and the museum’s management has warned about the state of its premises.

Labour unions criticized the decision to scrap the universal entry fee for all nationalities, with one, the CFDT, warning it would be perceived as “discrimination”.