Source: AFP
The Eiffel Tower, one of the world’s top tourist attractions, will remain closed for a second straight day on Tuesday as staff extend a strike, a union spokesman told AFP.
The strike began on Monday in protest over the financial management of the monument.
The operator of the tower, SETE, said on its website that “visits to the memorial will be suspended on Tuesday”.
She advised ticket holders to check her website before showing up or postpone their visit. E-ticket holders are asked to check their e-mails for more information.
The outage is the second strike at the Eiffel Tower in two months for the same reason.
Unions have criticized operator SETE for its business model, which they say is based on an inflated estimate of the number of future visitors, while underestimating construction costs.
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The Eiffel Tower — Paris’ most famous landmark — attracts nearly seven million visitors a year, about three-quarters of them foreigners, according to its website.
During the Covid pandemic, numbers fell sharply due to closures and travel restrictions, but rebounded to 5.9 million in 2022. Last year, it attracted 6.3 million visitors.
Visitor numbers to Paris are expected to increase this summer as the French capital hosts the Olympics.
In a joint statement on Monday, the CGT and FO unions called on the city of Paris “to be reasonable with their financial demands to ensure the survival of the monument and the company that manages it”.
Alexandre Leborgne, a spokesman for the hard-left CGT trade union, told AFP that the city hall, which is the main owner of the monument, “refuses to negotiate for now”.
An assembly of workers will confirm in a vote on Tuesday the extension of the strike, called by the CGT and FO unions, he said.
Source: AFP