France: the Eiffel Tower, the most visited monument in Paris, is closed due to strike

The Eiffel Tower has been closed since this Monday, in a strike “reled” by its own workers. Heartbroken tourists in front of the elevatorswho took them to visit the third most visited monument in France, they thought they would miss the chance to see it on their first trip to Paris.

The decision was adopted by workers and trade unions. The Parisian monument unions are worried “the poor management of the budget of the City of Paris”. The last employee strike dates back to December 27th.

With magnificent views, elevators and restaurants, the tower is an emblematic place for those who arrive in Paris for the first time and will not be able to climb it.

“Today is my birthday and I really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower”a little Londoner, of Russian and Ukrainian origin, who celebrates her tenth birthday this Monday, she explained to AFP.

During the school holidays, many families came from Nice, La Rochelle or Bordeaux with their children to visit her. There wasn’t even a newspaper announcing its closure not even when it would open. Same disappointment for tourists arriving from Japan, China or South America.

Bad management

The Iron Lady threatens to raise the curtain. On Monday 12 February, the unions of the company that manages the Eiffel Tower (SETE) voted unanimously in favor of a renewable strike, which will begin on 19 February, in the middle of the school holidays, according to information from Challenge, confirmed by the agency Radio France.

This strike is a reaction to the financial mismanagement of the Eiffel Tower by the municipality. The unions believe that “costs are underestimated and revenues are overestimated”.

Despite receiving 6.3 million visitors in 2023, that is 17,000 visitors per day, the most emblematic monument is facing a liquidity deficit “of several million euros”, indicates Challenge magazine. Since 2017, the costs of the initially planned works have been exceeded by 128 million euros.

The city of Paris owns 99% of the capital of SETE, which manages the monument under a public service delegation (DSP). That is, the city council entrusts the management of a public service, in this case the management of the services offered by the Eiffel Tower, “to a public or private delegate” – in this case the SETE – “whose remuneration is substantially linked to the result of the exploitation of the service. The contract, signed in 2017, extends until 2030.

Deterioration

The third most visited tourist site in France “will probably remain closed all day” this Monday 19 February. Two staff unions are concerned about the “worrying degradation of the monument”.

This was decided by the two monument staff unions, the CGT and the FO, to “denounce the current management, which is bringing the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE) into the worst difficulties”. The two unions are mainly addressing the City of Paris, the majority shareholder, which according to them imposes an “unsustainable” model on society. This is a balance between income and expenditure seriously damaged by the Covid-19 crisis, which generated a deficit of around 120 million euros between 2020 and 2021.

To cope, Sete was effectively recapitalized with 60 million euros the same year. But “the basic model”, which envisaged an increase in municipal expenditure, “has not been modified”, regrets Alexandre Leborgne, representative of the CGT.

Despite the sums invested”numerous corrosion points are visiblesymptoms of a worrying degradation of the 135-year-old monument”, they say, focusing above all on the pictorial campaign which ends in view of the Olympic Games.

They call for the creation of a “special endowment fund” to meet future “colossal expenses.”

Inaugurated in 1889 on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition in Paristhe Eiffel Tower quickly became a symbol of the capital and of France.

In 2023 it received 6.3 million visitors, more than in 2019, before the Covid pandemic. The French are the first visitors to the Eiffel Tower (18.9%), according to Sete data. Closely followed by visitors from North America (18%), especially from the United States (13.2%). Among Europeans (excluding France), who represent 44% of visitors overall, the Germans are in the lead (7.8%), followed by the English (6.8%) and the Spanish (6.4%).

Since its opening to the public, It has received more than 300 million visitors.