It dominates the Parisian skyline, but the €36.10 that it costs to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower was too much for Yvonne Martens, a Dutch holidaymaker visiting Paris with her family. “It’s quite expensive,” she said as she sat at the base of the monument with Bob Kregting, 48, her son-in-law, while her daughter and grandson were taking a lift to the summit.
“I think €20 would be a reasonable price,” said Martens, 72, who is from Nijmegen, near the German border.
There is little chance that her wish will be fulfilled, however. Paris city council, which owns the tower, has raised the price of an entrance ticket by about 18 per cent since last year and is said to be considering another increase after the disclosure that the 136-year-old monument is in the red.
A report by the Court of Accounts, France’s highest audit office, said the tower, built by the engineer Gustave Eiffel, lost €8.5 million last year and is expected to have a deficit of €31 million by 2031.
“This is one of the world’s most-visited monuments. How can it be losing money?” Pascale de La Tour du Pin, a presenter on the RMC radio station, said. “It’s staggering.”
The auditors blame managers for vastly underestimating the cost of renovating the structure, which consists of 180,000 metal bars and 2.5 million bolts. They also question the conditions enjoyed by the 441 employees, which are generous even by the standards of the French public sector. Their perks include a bonus for staying at home on bank holidays.
The Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), the council-owned company that operates the tower, is not entirely to blame for the mess, according to the report. It was hit by €149 million in lost revenue during the Covid lockdowns and is still trying to fill the financial hole.
Repainting the tower cost nearly three times more than its managers had budgeted for
CHESNOT/GETTY IMAGES
At the same time, Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist mayor of Paris, who has overseen a rise in the city’s debt to €9.3 billion, is trying to milk the tourist attraction for all she can get. The licence fee paid by SETE to the council went up from €8.1 million in 2019 to €38.7 million last year.
Yet blunders have been made, according to the auditors. In 2018, for instance, managers ordered the repainting of the tower for the 20th time since its inauguration in 1889. They thought the job would cost €50 million. In fact, it was €142 million. They also set aside €32 million in 2018 to renovate the lift in the north tower. The final bill was €58.3 million.
The court went on to highlight a rise in staff costs from €25.9 million in 2019 to €32.3 million last year. The average annual salary is €72,317, according to the report, and even unqualified workers earn €49,032 a year, bonus payments included. The auditors said they were better off than health or airport workers in jobs with similar hours and qualifications.
Those who work on bank holidays receive a bonus that triples the usual daily rate. But those who do not work on bank holidays are also well treated. They get a bonus that doubles the standard rate.
Officials initially hoped to offset rising costs by selling more tickets. The original plan was to attract 7.4 million visitors in 2031, up from 6.3 million last year. But with the mood turning against mass tourism in Paris, the ambition has been scaled back and the aim is now to have 6.6 million visitors in six years’ time.
Instead, the 330-metre high tower has put up prices. Anika Theissen, 48, a visitor from Solingen in western Germany, said she could see why. Pointing towards the glass barriers that have been installed around the monument, she said: “When you see all the security here, and also how much there is to paint, you can understand why they charge what they do.”
Further increases may be in the offing. The Le Parisien newspaper, for instance, argued that the Eiffel Tower remained good value compared with the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, which charges up to $150 or so to go to the 148th floor, or the Empire State Building in New York, where it can cost about $100 to reach the top.
Paris city council said it was considering a “modification” of the pricing.