Attendance at the Louvre fell 75% in July.

-

Kamil Zihnioglu / AP / SIPA

A laborious summer for museums.

From the Louvre to Versailles, the absence of foreign tourists due to Covid-19 has caused a historic drop in attendance at the most emblematic sites in France.

With reductions of 70% or more in the number of visitors in July-August, the summer will not have made it possible to make up for the losses of Parisian museums due to the three months of confinement.

To get an idea, in summer 2019, foreigners represented 75% of visitors to the Louvre, 80% to Versailles.

Coronavirus forces Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indians, Brazilians, Canadians and others have been prevented from coming to France in the middle of the summer season.

The Louvre in free fall

Attendance at the world's largest museum - which recorded 40 million euros in dry losses during confinement - fell 75% in July and 60% in August compared to the two months of 2019, according to figures from the Louvre.

In the 2019 budget, the own resources of this museum were 149.5 million euros, including 99.1 of ticket sales.

The operating subsidy paid by the state will not be enough and the Louvre is requesting financial assistance for its "transformation plan", its chairman and director Jean-Luc Martinez said in June.

The only positive glimmer: the French public, particularly in the Ile-de-France region, came, attracted by the diversification of offers (families, young people, etc.).

“Local” Europeans were also present.

Considerable losses for Parisian museums

For the public establishment Musée d'Orsay-Musée de l'Orangerie, the loss of own revenue for 2020 is estimated at 28 million, including 22 from ticketing.

A drop in attendance of more than 70% was noted this summer.

The Center Pompidou is counting on its program for the fall, including the Matisse exhibition.

But its revenue losses are already estimated at 20 million euros in 2020, even though they will be partially absorbed by savings due to postponements of projects.

Attendance at Versailles "collapses", with three times fewer visitors than usual, and the public establishment has "lost 45 million" euros since confinement, said mid-August on RTL the president of the 'Public institution, Catherine Pégard.

A decent summer in the regions

The province fared better.

The Villa Cavrois, by the architect Robert Mallet-Stevens, in Lille, or the Thoronet abbey in Provence, for example, have increased ticket offices.

For the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, it is 50% more tickets compared to 2019, and 48% for the City of Carcassonne.

In the great museum of Marseille, the Mucem, moderate reductions of 15% for the site and 20% for the exhibitions are observed in July-August.

"The Mucem will assume its financial losses, the Ministry of Culture having guaranteed the payment of the subsidy as planned, and paid an additional subsidy for" the cultural and learning summer "", tells AFP its president, Jean- François Chougnet.

The monuments of the regions, on the Atlantic coast, in mountain ranges, etc., have benefited from family visits by holidaymakers who have stayed in France, notes Philippe Bélaval, president of the Center des monuments nationaux (CMN).

It is in particular the open-air sites - archaeological for example - which knew a greater affluence.

Culture

Deconfinement: The Louvre Museum reopens its doors on Monday, with the necessary barrier gestures

Paris

Coronavirus: For lack of foreign tourists, attendance at the Palace of Versailles collapses

  • Attendance

  • Coronavirus

  • Museum

  • Culture

  • Louvre