Major global tourist destinations about to get more expensive for Canadians

Visiting the Louvre is about to get more expensive for Canadian tourists.

According to French news outlet Le Monde, non-European tourists will be required to pay €30 (approximately C$48) to visit major French museums starting January 1, 2026. That's about a C$13 increase from the current entrance fee of €22 (C$35).

Sources from France's Ministry of Culture told the newspaper that the hike would be implemented at the Louvre and Château de Versailles.

The government is also planning to test the tourist tax at either the Arc de Triomphe or the Conciergerie, and at the Château de Chambord, in Loire Valley (central France), as well as at Paris' Opéra Garnier.

That means Canadians will need to factor in an additional fee if they want to see the Mona Lisa up close at the Louvre or get a glimpse into the lavish life of Marie Antoinette.

The price increase is expected to be adopted by other cultural sites in 2027.

According to Le Monde, the government's goal is to raise money to offset cultural budget cuts, lack of sponsorships and skyrocketing construction costs.

With non-European visitors accounting for 42 per cent of Versailles' eight million annual visitors, the increased payments would go towards repairing a cracked pool, restoring a neglected grove, or fixing a leaky roof, reported Le Monde.  

Sources told the publication that the policy could generate €20 million a year to fund urgent renovations at the Louvre. Repairs at the famous museum have been estimated at over €400 million over 15 years.

Critics of the policy told Le Monde that the tax, "based on geographic origin, is discriminatory and has no place in a public service."

"Can you imagine charging an Iraqi more than a Belgian to see the Code of Hammurabi, which comes from Iraq? Charging Africans extra so they can view, at the Pavillon des Sessions, objects that their countries might one day ask to have instituted?" argued a museum curator who asked to remain anonymous.