Culture News
Louvre's €32 ticket for non-EU visitors starts: 45% rise, and a debate over 'dual pricing'
From Wednesday, January 14, adult visitors to the Louvre who are neither citizens nor residents of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway pay €32 instead of €22, a 45% rise, the Associated Press reports. Guided groups pay €28 per person and tours are capped at 20 people. Under-18s still enter free. The museum expects an extra €15 million to €20 million a year for its "Louvre - New Renaissance" modernisation project.
AP notes the last rise was in January 2024, from €17 to €22, and that the change is part of a national "differentiated pricing" policy also applied at Versailles, the Paris Opera and Sainte-Chapelle, where non-eligible visitors pay €22 against €16. For comparison, it gives €18 for the Colosseum in Rome and €30 for the Acropolis in Athens.
“Paying €20 or €30 doesn't change anything.” — Pierre Dubreuil, director of Chambord, via Smithsonian Magazine
Smithsonian Magazine tied the rise to the October 19 theft of eight crown jewels and to security upgrades, and reported that Chambord is moving non-EU prices from €20 to €30. The Local France, running an AFP report, said the Louvre had 8.7 million visitors in 2024, 69% of them foreigners, with Americans the largest group, and that the CFDT union warned the change would be seen as discrimination. The South China Morning Post, also with AFP copy, framed it as a wider question: dual pricing has few precedents in Europe but is common at sites such as Machu Picchu or the Taj Mahal.
How each outlet framed it
- Associated Press — practical: who pays what, and how it compares with Rome and Athens.
- Smithsonian Magazine — the heist and security spending behind the rise.
- The Local France — who visits the Louvre, and union objections.
- South China Morning Post — the fairness debate over charging foreigners more.
Where the numbers differ: The Local gives 8.7 million visitors in 2024; Smithsonian says nearly 9 million. AP converts the new price to $37 and the old one to $26; Smithsonian puts the old price at $25.