We all love a city break, namely for the large injection of culture we’re able to get in such a short amount of time.
But for Brits, visiting some of France’s most famous attractions could get more expensive.
Rachida Dati, France’s culture minister, has suggested placing a surcharge on tickets to the Louvre for non-EU nationals.
The Louvre Museum, which is home to the Mona Lisa, welcomes millions of visitors each year.
Currently, tickets to the museum cost €22 (about £18). The levy, which would be introduced in 2026, will be around €5, or £4.20.
The surcharge may also apply to Versailles and the Musée d’Orsay.
The Culture Minister said it was to help pay for France’s heritage. ‘I want visitors from outside the EU to pay more for their entrance ticket and for this supplement to finance the renovation of the national heritage,’ she told Le Figaro.
Some people have complained about the plans. Labour MP Christ Bryant posted on X, formerly Twitter about how the British Museum and National Gallery are free to all. ‘You’re welcome,’ he wrote.
But Dati suggested it was not fair for French people to have to pay for their heritage sites, which are major tourist attractions.
She added: ‘Is it normal for a French visitor to pay the same price for entry to the Louvre as a Brazilian or Chinese visitor?
‘The French people should not have to pay for everything on their own.’
While this may seem annoying, she isn’t exactly going against the grain. In many countries around the world, tourists are expected to pay more for certain attractions than locals.
For example, foreigners visiting Istanbul’s Basilica Cistern are charged four times the entrance fee for locals — the equivalent of £18 vs £4.50. In fact, many of the city’s attractions, including Beylerbeyi Palace, charge more for foreigners.
The Taj Mahal, in India, also charges a different price for foreigners, who pay £15 to visit the mausoleum, compared with £2.20 for locals.
Countries across Europe have also begun to introduce and increase daily tourist feed to combat overtourism, including Venice, Barcelona, and Lake Como.
Just this week, Italy announced that next year Venice will almost double the number of days on which day trippers will have to pay €5 to enter the World Heritage city.
Greece will also be charging Brits £16 to visit its busiest islands, including Mykonos and Santorini, at certain times of the year, mainly to tackle overtourism caused by cruise ships.
Portugal’s second city, Porto recently announced it will be upping its daily tourist charge by 50%, to help fund culture, heritage, the environment, energy, quality of life, town planning, housing and transport — and Lisbon, the country’s capital, has already done the same.
So, tourism is getting more and more expensive all over the globe.
As for Paris, though, some staff at the Louvre expressed concerns about having to check the nationality of individual customers, so we’ll have to wait and see how it goes.
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