The most visited museum in the world has started the next stage of the fight against over-tourism or, in other words, overcrowding with tourists. It is about the Louvre in Paris. The museum introduces strict quotas for visits – it is assumed that the new electronic ticketing system will be able to “keep” the number of daily visitors at the level of 30,000 people. This was announced by the management of the famous Parisian attraction. However, it is not clear how exactly the museum plans to limit tourists to a quota of 30,000 to stop the abuse of ticket speculators. And as you know, even electronic personal tickets do not always save society from these “bugs”.
Overcrowding problems for the Louvre in Paris, according to the French media, are becoming relevant again: in 2022, the famous museum received 7.8 million visitors – 19% less than in 2019, but already 170% more than in 2021, when French museums were closed for almost five months due to covid.
It was at this moment that the director of the Louvre, Lawrence de Cars, said that she was ready to press the “pause” button: the management had decided to limit the number of entrances per day to 30,000 people.
We will remind you that before the pandemic, the museum could accommodate up to 45,000 people on crowded days. And it did not lead to anything good – incredible queues accumulated at the entrance, near famous masterpieces such as the “Mona Lisa” it was impossible to push through the gathering crowd… And most importantly – the employees of the Louvre repeatedly announced a strike, complaining about the unprecedented deterioration of working conditions in conditions of a record number of people.
The control practices developed in covid should now serve against the museum’s overcrowding. So, according to Ms. de Kars, at the moment 80% of tickets are sold through the reservation service – and this will help both to reduce queues and, with the support of the new management policy, to stabilize attendance in 2023 at the level of 7.5 to 8 million visitors. – i.e. about 17 years ago. “Our goal is to make visiting the Louvre a pleasant experience, especially for those who visit the museum for the first time, which is 60% of visitors,” said the general director of the museum. She also noted that she is ready to become the first museum director who consciously decided to limit the number of visitors, taking into account not only the needs of the public but also the state of the staff. She also said that the Louvre will not be planning any major exhibitions, especially since the museum is scheduled for renovation, even though Paris will welcome about ten million visitors during the Summer Olympics in 2024.
At the same time, we should note that foreign tourists visit the Louvre much more often than domestic ones – in 2022, 70% of visitors were foreigners who resumed trips after the pandemic. Americans were in the lead – up to 18% of the total number, as well as European tourists – about 27% from Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain. True, tourists from China have almost disappeared, although their flow before the pandemic was 8 to 10% of the total number. In December, the average daily attendance was 25,000 people, and during the Christmas and New Year period it increased to 30,000 people, and this is what the Louvre would like to limit itself to.
At the same time, the French mass media add that almost a third of the Louvre’s annual budget of 200 million euros is usually provided by the purchase of tickets. Moreover, some of these tickets are somehow subsidized by the state — this number reaches half. That is, it is necessary to consider the details of the financial consequences of limiting attendance. Especially since the Louvre has received 120 million euros in exceptional aid from the government over the past few years, and is now forced to ask for state support to cope with rising electricity costs of 10 million euros. And this is not counting problems with ticket speculators.