One of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, the Eiffel Tower, was closed on Wednesday due to a strike by employees, according to the tower’s operator.
The hard-left CGT union claimed in a statement that the walkout was in protest of “the current way it is managed” on the 100th anniversary of the death of the engineer who built the tower, Gustave Eiffel.
The tower’s operator SETE was “headed for disaster”, it said.
According to the CGT, the Eiffel Tower’s administration was operating under a business model that was deemed “too ambitious and unsustainable”, since it relied on an exaggerated projection of future visitor numbers while underestimating the expenditures associated with development.
In addition to expressing regret to guests, SETE advised those who had electronic tickets for Wednesday to “check their email” for additional details regarding their reservation.
The most well-known landmark in Paris, the Eiffel Tower, welcomes around seven million tourists annually, about three-quarters of them are foreigners, according to its website.
Due to closures and travel restrictions during the Covid epidemic, the population fell precipitously; however, it rose to 5.9 million in 2022.
The CGT said the tower’s management was basing its future budget on 7.4 million annual visitors, although “this level has never been reached”.
Eiffel died on December 27, 1923, at the age of 91.