Art World
Louvre Museum Reports $10 Million Dollar Losses and Dramatic Drop in Visitors
A fire, a flood, and the threat of terrorism kept visitors away.
Amah-Rose Abrams
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The Louvre Museum in Paris has announced that its visitor figures have fallen by 15 percent and, subsequently, so have its profits, in what has been a tumultuous year for France.
The museum announced a drop in visitor figures by millions, resulting in a large financial loss for the beloved French museum which was, on top of prior terror attacks in Paris, flooded and caught up in a fire in 2016.
“2016, for the Louvre as for all sites in Paris, was a difficult year,”Jean-Luc Martinez, president and director of the Louvre, told Le Figaro. “We should finish the year at 7.3 million visitors, 15 percent less than in 2015, and a loss of at least €9.7 million ($10.2 million), not to mention the lower revenues in booksellers or restaurants,” he elaborated following the museum’s announcement.
While French visitor figures have remained stable, the number of international visitors has fallen, and the museum is placing the blame on the number of terrorist attacks on Paris and across France in recent years. School visits suffered slightly in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack on Paris in 2015, but soon returned to normal.
Martinez broke down the figures for French radio station Europe 1, stating that 61 percent fewer Japanese visitors came to the museum in 2015, on top of 31 percent fewer visitors from China, and 18 percent fewer Americans, according to the Art Newspaper.
On the upside, while the visitor figures were down, customer satisfaction jumped from 53 percent to 70 percent. Social media engagement has also improved, according the statement; the Louvre boats 2.3 million fans on Facebook and is the most geo-tagged museum in the world on Instagram.
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