French museum fare hikes for non-European tourists spark outcry

Paris, France: Should foreign tourists pay more for state funded galleries than locals, or should art be accessible to all, without discrimination? Fr...

Paris, France: Should foreign tourists pay more for state-funded galleries than locals, or should art be accessible to all, without discrimination? France is hiking prices for non-Europeans at the Louvre this week, provoking debate about so-called "dual pricing".

From Wednesday, any adult visitor from outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway will have to pay 32 euros ($37) to enter the Louvre -- a 45-percent increase -- while the Palace of Versailles will up its prices by three euros.

Americans, UK citizens and Chinese nationals, who are some of the museum's most numerous foreign visitors, will be among those affected, as will tourists from poorer countries.

The French move has few precedents elsewhere in Europe, but is more common in developing countries, where tariffs at sites such as Machu Picchu in Peru or the Taj Mahal in India vary.

Trade unions at the Louvre have denounced the policy as "shocking philosophically, socially and on a human level" and have called for strike action over the change, along with a raft of other complaints.