Eiffel Tower: all visitors are required to wear masks and keep a good distance from each other (File)
Paris:
The Eiffel Tower in Paris will reopen its highest level on July 15 after months of prohibition due to the epidemic of coronavirus, announced on Thursday its operator.
The first and second floors reopened on June 26 after the longest closure of the monument since the Second World War, a symbolic restart as France emerged from isolation.
“Who has not dreamed of having Paris at their feet, 276 meters (905 feet) tall?” The tower operator, the Eiffel Tower Operating Company, said Thursday in a statement.
“It will be possible from July 15, the day of the reopening of the top floor.”
All visitors are required to wear masks and keep a safe distance from each other, the country still recovering from an epidemic that claimed the lives of nearly 30,000 people.
When it reopens, the top floor cannot accommodate more than 250 people at a time.
The elevators, which were banned for the first few days after the tower reopened – meaning visitors had to climb hundreds of stairs – have since been reopened.
The 104-day closure of the tower cost the company 27 million euros ($ 30 million) in lost sales, and visitor numbers are not expected to return to normal anytime soon.
The Eiffel Tower usually receives around seven million visitors a year, three-quarters of which are from abroad.
France is one of the most visited countries in the world, but its tourism industry has been hit hard by the closure of the coronavirus, with hotels, restaurants, museums and theaters closed for three months.
France lifted restrictions on European borders on June 15, and the tourism industry hopes that foreign visitors will start flocking again at the start of the summer season.
Europe does not yet allow visitors from the hard-hit United States.
The operator said three-quarters of its visitors since it reopened came from France.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
