"I would never have imagined taking a selfie with the Mona Lisa," said Sven, who has just emerged from the Denon wing of Paris' Louvre Museum on Monday, August 5. "We were in Rome last week, and I feel like there were twice as many people in the museums," observed the astonished Swedish tourist, who had come with his brother and parents to support star pole-vaulter Armand Duplantis at the Olympic Games.

The management of the world's most famous museum says that there has been a "slight drop" in visitors, but some employees say that it's significant. They estimate that there are as many as 20% or 30% fewer visitors on certain days than during a usual summer. So much so, in fact, that the Louvre recently reopened admission without reservation.

While the Choose Paris Region institute is reporting a 20% increase in tourist numbers in the Paris region between July 24 and 27, compared with 2023, queues in front of museums or at theme parks are short. Since the start of the Olympics, visitor numbers have fallen by 29% at Musée d'Orsay and by 31% at the Musée de l'Orangerie. At Disneyland Paris, visitors are delighted to be able to enjoy as many attractions as possible in a single day.

While the amusement park and some of the museums in the Paris region are refusing to provide figures for the time being, none are satisfied. "It's certain that visitor numbers at Sacré-Cœur during the Olympics were lower than during a normal summer," said a spokesperson at the basilica.

Before the start of the Games, visitor numbers were already average, or even poor, during the week of preparations for the opening ceremony. Administrative measures forced the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay and the Parc Zoologique de Paris to close for two days. The tour boats, some of which had been requisitioned for the July 26 ceremony, were unable to welcome tourists for a week.

The Jeu de Paume chose to close for the summer, while the Musée de l'Orangerie on the other side of the Tuileries remains open. The latter, which houses Monet's Water Lillies and is the only one located within the perimeter of an Olympic site (Place de la Concorde), is surrounded by barriers and police screening. For 10 days prior to the opening ceremony, a reservation and an Olympic Pass with a QR code were required to enter the site. Now that the Olympics have begun, attendance levels are admittedly below normal, but museum director Claire Bernardi expected worse. "Well in advance of the Olympics, we had counted on a 60% drop in visitors, but in the last few days we've been surprised, with many individuals making short visits."

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