Скачать или смотреть Visitors react to price hike for most non-Europeans at Paris' Louvre to shore up museum finances

(15 Jan 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paris - 14 January 2026
1. Visitors lining up outside Louvre
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Allison Moore, Canadian tourist: ++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS OVERLAID BY SHOT3++
"We didn't cause the robberies or, you know, some of the issues that have happened, but we're the ones that are going to pay the consequences. So, that's kind of how I look at it, but you know what do you do? You're coming here...It's the same thing if it was in Canada, you know,, we don't discriminate over pricing like that."
3. Various of visitors queuing outside Louvre ++PARTIALLY SPLIT SCREEN WITH SOUNDBITE SHOT4++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Darla Daniela Quiroz, Canadian tourist:
"In general for tourists I think things should be a little bit cheaper (for tourists) than local people because we have to travel to come all the way here, so it'd be equal in price or a little bit cheaper."
5. Visitors queuing outside Louvre
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Laurent Vallet, visitor from Burgundy, France: ++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS OVERLAID BY SHOT7++
"Culture should be open to everyone, yes at the same price, there's no reason not to. When we go abroad, we don't pay more just because we're foreigners. Of course, France has plenty of finances."
7. Various of Louvre
STORYLINE:
The Louvre museum on Wednesday started raising admission for most non-European visitors by 45% as it tries to shore up finances after repeated strikes, chronic overcrowding — and a brazen French Crown Jewels heist that shook the institution.

The museum said the price hike, from 22 euros ($26) to 32 euros ($37), is part of a national “differentiated pricing” policy announced early last year that's coming into force across major cultural sites, including the Versailles Palace, the Paris Opera and the Sainte-Chapelle.

French worker unions have denounced the Louvre ticketing change, saying it undermines the universal mission of the world’s most visited museum — home to the “Venus de Milo” and the “Winged Victory of Samothrace."

Workers walked out again Monday in the latest strike over pay and working conditions, thrusting the Louvre’s internal strain back into public view.

The change affects visitors from most non-EU countries, including the United States, which typically accounts for the lion’s share of the Louvre’s foreign tourists.

"We didn't cause the robberies or, you know, some of the issues that have happened, but we're the ones that are going to pay the consequences," said Allison Moore, a Canadian tourist from Newfoundland visiting the museum with her mother.

"If it was in Canada, you know, we don't discriminate over pricing like that," she added.

Another Canadian tourist, Darla Daniela Quiroz from Vancouver, said she felt the price hike should be the other way around with locals paying more than visitors.

"We have to travel to come all the way here, so it'd be equal in price or a little bit cheaper," she said.

For Burgundy resident Laurent Vallet, culture should be open to everyone at the same price.

"When we go abroad, we don't pay more just because we're foreigners," he said.

Under the new structure, visitors who are neither citizens nor residents of the EU — nor Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway — will pay the higher rate, the Louvre said.

The 32-euro price applies to individual visitors outside Europe; guided groups will pay 28 euros, with tours capped at 20 people “to maintain the quality of the visit,” the museum said.

Some categories remain eligible for free admission, including visitors under 18.












Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...