PARIS: The Eiffel Tower, one of many world’s prime vacationer sights, was closed on Wednesday (Dec 27) after workers went on strike, the tower’s operator mentioned.
The strike on the one hundredth anniversary of the demise of engineer Gustave Eiffel, who constructed the tower, was to protest about “the present manner it’s managed”, the hard-left CGT union mentioned in a press release.
The tower’s operator SETE was “headed for catastrophe”, it mentioned.
The CGT mentioned administration was operating the Eiffel Tower in response to a enterprise mannequin that was “too formidable and unsustainable” and that it mentioned was primarily based on an inflated estimate of future customer numbers whereas under-estimating building prices.
SETE apologised to guests, advising anybody with digital tickets for Wednesday “to verify their e mail” for extra data on their reserving.
The Eiffel Tower – Paris’s most well-known landmark – attracts practically seven million guests a 12 months, round three-quarters of them foreigners, in response to its web site.
Through the Covid pandemic numbers dropped sharply as a consequence of closures and journey restrictions, however recovered to five.9 million in 2022.
The CGT mentioned the tower’s administration was basing its future finances on 7.4 million annual guests, though “this degree has by no means been reached”.
Eiffel died on Dec 27, 1923, on the age of 91.
