Controversy about Louvre museum ticket prices increasing nearly one and a half times

From January 14, France will apply a 45% higher ticket price to the Louvre museum for non-European Union (EU) visitors than for European visitors, in order to increase revenue for restoration work at the cultural symbol of Paris. This move is considered one of the strongest steps in Europe in applying “dual fares”, charging different fees according to the origin of tourists.

This form is common in many developing countries but is rare in Europe. The policy quickly faced criticism because it was considered discriminatory and could reduce the access of low-income foreign tourists to the place where the Mona Lisa is kept.

Noted by AFP on the first day of application showed mixed reactions. Kevin Flynn, a 60-year-old Australian tourist visiting Paris with his wife for a week, thinks the new ticket price of 32 euros ($37) for non-European visitors is “acceptable”. “In Italy or Malta, many attractions have similar prices to large-scale landmarks,” said Kevin Flynn.

On the contrary, Joohwan Tak, a Korean tourist, said this policy was “unfair”. “We are all human, the difference is too big,” Tak said.

Marcia Branco, a tourist from Brazil, commented that if coming to India, local people pay lower tickets than foreigners, which is reasonable because they have lower income. But when he was in Paris, a supposedly rich country, he thought this approach was unfair.

Not only the Louvre museum, many French state-owned cultural tourist attractions also increased fees for non-EU visitors, including Versailles Palace, Chambord Castle and the Paris National Opera.

Explaining the decision to increase fees, analysts from specialized sites such as The Art Newspaper and France 24 commented that the Louvre is facing financial pressure from three sides. First of all, there is the need to tighten security after the shocking jewelry theft worth 102 million USD in October 2025, forcing the museum to spend about 15-20 million euros more each year to modernize the surveillance system. Next is the ambition of the mega project “Louvre – New Renaissance” worth 1.1 billion euros to rebuild infrastructure and build a separate display space for the masterpiece Mona Lisa. Finally, in the context of the French Government cutting budgets for cultural institutions, collecting additional fees from international visitors is considered an inevitable step for museums to achieve their goal of financial independence.

The French government also explained the price increase for financial purposes, saying that the Louvre museum alone could collect an additional 20-30 million euros (24-34 million USD) per year for repairs.

Trade unions at the Louvre protested the policy, calling it a “philosophically, socially and humanely shocking” decision, and considered it one of the causes of recent strikes. They emphasized that the museum’s collection of about 500,000 artifacts, including many works from Egypt, the Middle East and Africa, have common value for all humanity. The union is also concerned about enforcement when staff must check visitors’ identification documents.

French scholar Patrick Poncet compared France’s move to US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy, when the US increased entry fees to national parks for foreign tourists by 100 USD from January 1. In an article published in Le Monde newspaper in December 2025, he commented that France’s policy reflects “the return of undisguised nationalism”, a trend that is appearing in many parts of the world.

Experts say it is too early to judge whether the continent’s most visited country’s break with European practice will cause other cultural destinations to follow suit.

Currently, the Louvre is free for minors of all nationalities and European citizens under 26 years old.

Admission prices to the Louvre museum have increased over time over the past two decades. In the early 2000s, the general ticket price was about 7 euros (about 8 USD), then adjusted to 10 euros (12 USD) in 2011. Most recently, in January 2024, the Louvre continued to raise ticket prices from 17 euros to 22 euros (20-26 USD), equivalent to an increase of about 30%, to offset operating costs and serve the organization of the Paris Olympics. 2024.

Ticket prices to the Louvre museum after adjustment