Brits could face higher entry fees to Paris attractions, culture minister says
Tourists visiting Paris from outside of the EU, including Brits, may have to pay an extra fee to visit monuments and museums such as the Louvre.
France's culture minister has proposed the move to raise money for preserving France's cultural buildings and heritage.
Rachida Dati told Le Figaro: "My position on this subject is very clear: I want non-EU visitors to pay more for their entrance ticket and for this supplement to go towards financing the renovation of the national heritage."
Dati also proposed introducing an entry fee of five euros (£4.17) for visitors to the Notre Dame cathedral when it reopens in December, after being badly damaged by a large fire in April 2019.
The ticket charge could yield as much as 75 million euros (£62.5 million), she claimed.
“Across Europe, visitors pay to access the most remarkable religious sites," Dati said.
"With five euros per visitor at Notre Dame, we could save churches all over France. It would be a beautiful symbol."
She said those attending mass and religious ceremonies would not have to pay.
France is home to an estimated 42,000 Catholic churches, with experts suggesting a building is lost every two weeks due to neglect, fire or vandalism.
Dati suggested a model mirroring Britain's National Trust could be introduced to help preserve private buildings and heritage sites, and make them more accessible.
"We have been looking at this model with envy for decades, but we have never tried to adapt it in France," she said.
Meanwhile, the Mayor of Venice has announced plans to widen the city's scheme to charge tourist entrance fees, which it trialled earlier this year.
In April, the city brought in a five euro (£4.17) charge for 29 dates in July, to try and dissuade mass tourism.
In a post on X on Thursday, Luigi Brugnaro said the 2025 scheme will start on April 18, lasting five days - and those who fail to book at least four days in advance will be charged ten euros (£8.34) instead of five euros.
The tax will be in force during peak hours, from 8:30am to 4pm. Residents, Venetian-born visitors, students and workers, as well as tourists who have accommodation reserved, are exempt.
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At the end of the first test phase, authorites said the scheme had earned 2.4 million euros (£2 million), accounting for about 1,000 entrances on each of the test days.
Brugnaro said: “Venice is the first city in the world that tries to manage the problem of overtourism. We obtained important results.
It follows a summer of anti-tourism movements sweeping across southern Europe, particularly in Spain, which has seen protests take place in Mallorca, Ibiza, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.
On Monday, beaches in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Playa de las Américas and Maspalomas were inundated by demonstrators holding signs with slogans such as "your luxury, my misery".
The government in Catalonia has looked to impose water restrictions on tourists as a means of tackling drought.
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