Attendance down by more than 70% for the Louvre and several major museums - France 24

Paris (AFP)

The Louvre and several major Parisian museums have suffered the full brunt of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, suffering drops in attendance of more than 70% in 2020.

The largest museum in the world, closed for six months, will have welcomed 2.7 million visitors in 2020, or -72%, compared to 9.6 million visitors in 2019 and the absolute record of 10.2 million in 2018.

During the summer period and during the All Saints holidays, the museum, deprived of foreign tourists - Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Brazilians ... - who usually represent 75% of admissions - fortunately saw the French public at the rendezvous. you: 84% of visitors.

The loss of revenue from the Louvre amounted to more than 90 million euros, while state aid amounted to 46 million euros.

The absence of foreign tourists was also felt at the Palace of Versailles, one of the most visited sites in France: around 2 million visitors flocked there in 2020 (compared to 8.2 million in 2019), i.e. about 75% drop in attendance.

Likewise, the public establishment bringing together the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée de l'Orangerie posted a drop of 77% compared to 2019, a record year for these two museums.

The Center Pompidou saw the attendance drop within its walls by 72%, as did the Musée de l'Armée.

A little over a million visitors went to the dozen of museums in the City of Paris (Petit Palais, Museum of Modern Art, Guimet Museum etc ...), which makes them record a decrease of 54% .

The Grand Palais, before its closure for works until 2024, received less than half of visitors than in 2019.

2020 was marked by the strong diversification of the digital offer of museums, which worked very well during the first confinement, from the Louvre to Versailles.

But the effect was noticeably run out of steam in the second because of the multiplication of offers on the internet and a certain weariness with regard to the virtual.

The Louvre now has 9.3 million subscribers on social networks (+1.02 million subscribers compared to 2019), and 21 million visits were made to the louvre.fr site.

Faced with the lack of a schedule for a resumption of activities, museums are torn between understanding and bitterness.

Flagship exhibitions such as "The Body and Soul from Donatello to Michelangelo" at the Louvre, "Matisse, comme un roman" at the Center Pompidou or "les Olmèques" at the Quai Branly are gnawing their brains in the dark, after a few weeks only opening, while others like the ambitious exhibition on art and science in the 19th century, "Origines du monde" in Orsay could not even open.

Although they can rely on the security provided by contributions from the State, the large public museums are diversifying their sources of funding, to compensate for the impoverishment of ticketing, sponsorship and the organization of events.

They should step up mediation actions, particularly towards the Ile-de-France public, and opt for fewer major exhibitions and showcase their often neglected collections.

© 2021 AFP