Many French and foreign visitors have been waiting for it for nearly nine months, its longest post-war closure: the Eiffel Tower reopens its doors this Friday. At 12:45, the puddled iron structure will welcome its first tourists. With a reception capacity reduced to 50%, or 13,000 visitors maximum per day, due in particular to the sanitary gauge imposed in the elevators in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic.
After 260 days without visitors and massive recourse to short-time work for the 350 employees, “there is a real expectation of the staff” who end with “almost a month of complete check-up”, explains the boss of the Eiffel Tower. Lifts, counters, barrier gestures, “it’s a bit like starting a plane …”, explains the president of the operating company (Sete) Jean-François Martins. And from Wednesday, in accordance with what President Emmanuel Macron announced for places of leisure and culture bringing together more than 50 people, the health pass will be mandatory to access the monument.
Americans back
Where will the visitors come from? Open since June 1 with 70,000 tickets sold until the end of August, but mostly for the second half of July, the online ticket office allows you to outline the first trends: half French, half foreigners with “a good proportion of Americans ”(15%) and a third of Europeans. Among the latter, Brexit and Delta variant oblige, “the total absence of the British is very noticeable, while they are traditionally the most present customers”, underlines the president of Sete who observes on the other hand a “surge of the sphere Mediterranean ”, Spain and Italy in the lead.
In reservations, very few long-distance travelers like Asians, who go through travel agencies a lot. But between health and meteorological uncertainties, “we will have a lot of tickets sold the same day”, predicts Jean-François Martins who is betting on “a good half” of tickets sold in situ.
In this difficult period, Gustave Eiffel’s masterpiece, which welcomed up to 7 million visitors in 2014 and another 6.2 million in 2019, must also face the logistical challenge of the painting project imposed on it its 132 springs. Suspended since the beginning of February due to traces of lead above the regulatory threshold, the 20th painting campaign is still in the test phase and will not resume until the fall, which explains the maintenance of a large suspended net on the Champ-de -March.