Paris: The Louvre Museum in Paris, France, has increased its entrance fees for visitors from outside Europe, sparking debate about double pricing in the arts and culture world. From today onwards, the Louvre Museum will implement a new admission fee structure based on visitor residency. Non-EU tourists will pay £32 (approximately 1,200 THB), a 45% increase from the previous £22. Tourists from EU countries, as well as Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, will pay the original price of £22. Youth under 18 from around the world and EU citizens under 26 will continue to enter for free. This measure is expected to significantly impact American, British, and Chinese tourists, who are among the top foreign visitors to the Louvre, as well as tourists from many developing countries.

According to Thai News Agency, the French government and museum management justified the measure as absolutely necessary due to several factors, including fundraising for a major restoration worth over £1.1 billion to improve the dilapidated building and create a new gallery specifically for the Mona Lisa to alleviate overcrowding, as well as increasing investment and upgrading security measures following the theft of the royal jewels worth $102 million last October. Meanwhile, the French Minister of Culture stated that the French people should not bear the entire maintenance burden alone, especially since foreign tourists only visit occasionally.

However, opponents, including labor unions and artists' groups, argue that the measure undermines universalism, stating that art should belong to everyone and that pricing based on passports contradicts the Louvre's ideals as the "museum of the world" since the French Revolution. Meanwhile, staff are concerned about the document checks at the entrance, which could further slow down already long queues and potentially lead to conflicts with tourists unaware of the new rules.

This move by the Louvre also marked the beginning of other world-class museums in Europe, such as the Palace of Versailles, charging different entrance fees based on nationality. However, the Louvre Museum in France is not the first to use this system. Many famous tourist attractions in various countries around the world have long used different entrance fee systems for locals and foreigners, such as the Taj Mahal in India, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Grand Museum of Egypt, or several national parks in the United States.