Top Stories
Pay up if you want to see Notre-Dame, French minister wants to tell tourists
Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on October 24, 2024
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website.
Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on October 24, 2024
PARIS (Reuters) – France should charge visitors a small fee to see the Notre-Dame cathedral to help the country keep its world-famous churches and cathedrals in shape, the culture minister said.
Rachida Dati told newspaper Le Figaro in an interview published late on Wednesday that by charging only 5 euros per visitor Notre-Dame could raise 75 million euros ($81 million) a year.
In France, where secularism is part of the national identity, the state is in charge of maintaining the country’s religious sites, including 15,000 classified as historic monuments, which are usually free of charge.
Notre-Dame has been undergoing reconstruction after a fire severely damaged its roof and spire. President Emmanuel Macron had pledged to rebuild Notre-Dame within five years, drawing massive private-sector financial support.
Dati, a former Paris district mayor, also said tourists from outside the European Union should pay more to visit non-religious landmarks.
Is it normal that a French visitor pays the same entrance fee to the Louvre as a Brazilian or Chinese visitor?”, Dati said, adding:
I want visitors from outside the EU to pay more for their entrance ticket and for this supplement to go towards financing the renovation of our national heritage.
The minister said many of the country’s famous buildings attracting millions of tourists per year were in a degraded state and that new funding sources were needed to address mounting preservation challenges, especially in the capital.
She said the ministry was working on implementing a new pricing policy, which is likely to require coordination with various public and private entities, from January 2026.
A country that gives up on carrying out major cultural projects gives up on being a great nation,” Dati said.
($1 = 0.9264 euros)
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Hugh Lawson)