Visiting the Louvre just got much more expensive for tourists

The iconic queues beneath IM Pei’s glass pyramid, a familiar sight at the Louvre, are set to become significantly more expensive for many international visitors as the world’s most visited museum introduces a new two-tier ticketing system.

The move comes as the Parisian landmark grapples with funding renovations and enhanced security measures, following a series of strikes, persistent overcrowding, and October’s high-profile French Crown Jewels heist. The museum was forced to close its doors again on Monday due to a staff walkout.

From Wednesday, the Louvre will implement a new pricing structure that sees admission for most non-Europeans rise to 32 euros (£27), a substantial increase from the previous 22 euros (£19) – marking a 45 per cent hike overnight.

This change primarily impacts tourists from non-European Union countries, including the United States, whose citizens typically constitute the largest proportion of foreign visitors to the museum.

open image in gallery

French labour unions have swiftly condemned the decision, arguing that it fundamentally undermines the museum’s universal mission. Under the revised system, visitors who are neither citizens nor residents of European Union countries, nor Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway, will be subject to the higher rate.

The museum has long contended with the pressures of immense visitor numbers, an ageing infrastructure, intermittent strikes, and escalating security and maintenance costs – challenges common among France’s major cultural institutions.

The CGT Culture union has vociferously denounced the differentiated pricing, asserting that it transforms access to culture into a "commercial product" and fosters unequal access to national heritage. While the Louvre maintains that certain categories, such as visitors under 18 and some younger residents of European countries, will still qualify for free admission, the last price increase occurred as recently as January 2024, when the standard entry fee rose from 17 euros to 22.

Discussions around higher fees for non-European visitors were already underway before the 19 October theft of French Crown Jewels from the Louvre, an incident valued by investigators at approximately 88 million euros (£75 million).

This daylight robbery, executed in minutes, intensified scrutiny over the protection of invaluable national heritage and fuelled debate on how major cultural institutions should finance upgrades, and whether visitors should bear a greater share of the cost. The Louvre has not directly linked the price change to the heist.

open image in gallery

The museum has repeatedly faced public scrutiny over its internal stresses. A wildcat strike in June by gallery attendants, ticket agents, and security staff delayed daily opening, leaving thousands of visitors stranded.

Workers cited the museum buckling under mass tourism, unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing, and deteriorating working conditions. By December, unions declared that the heist and the building’s condition had elevated their long-standing grievances into a national reckoning, with workers voting to continue striking until "real change" is brought to the historic former royal palace.