Time.news – The Eiffel Tower, the most visited monument in the world among those who ask to pay an entrance ticket, needs a capital injection of “several tens of millions of euros” due to the restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic -19.
He explained it to the newspaper Le Figaro, the president of the operating company that manages the Eiffel Tower, Jean-François Martins, underlining how the remaining funds, around 30 million euros, “are not sufficient” for ordinary and extraordinary expenses, especially in the face of a very low level of tourist activity.
To remedy this lack of resources, he started a new negotiation with its two shareholders, the city of Paris (which holds 99% of the capital) and the Metropolitan Authority of “Greater Paris” (1%).
In addition to covering the operating costs, the company must renovate an old lift of the North pillar, the cost of which amounts to 50 million euros, and spend the same amount to continue repainting the structure, an operation which should resume in the autumn.
In 2020, the management body has already seen its income reduced by 80% to 25 million euros (amounted to 100 million in 2019) and this resulted in an operating loss of 50 million. And in 2021 things will not improve: a new loss of 70 million is expected. Martins regretted not having received more substantial aid from the state for what is recognized by all as one of the most iconic monuments in France.
The company announced that the Eiffel Tower will reopen to the public on July 16, eight and a half months after the closure imposed by the restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus in the country. Measures that will not be totally abandoned by limiting the number of accesses and the use of lifts. In short, the forecasts are not rosy given that it is estimated that the Eiffel Tower will return to pre-pandemic levels, or about 25 thousand daily admissions, in 2024 alone.
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