The Eiffel Tower closed to the public on Wednesday afternoon as staff went on strike over how to organise tourists visits to the monument. Advertising Read more Staff from the Eiffel Tower operating company, SETE, are protesting how visits to the iconic Parisian monument are organised, complaining of the sometimes "monstrous" queues that form for the popular tourist attraction. Negotiations to avoid a strike that would halt public visits to the Tower were suspended on Wednesday, according to a union source contacted by AFP. A general meeting will be held in the late afternoon to decide on the length of the strike. Since early July the monument has set aside half of daily tickets for people who buy them in advance on the internet and choose a scheduled time for their visit. Previously just 20 percent of tickets could be booked ahead of time. But the tower's management has also decided to reserve specific elevators for each type of ticket holder, a move which "creates lines that are at times monstrous and often lopsided", the CGT union said in a statement. During off-peak times for pre-booked tickets, such as early afternoon or evening, the reserved elevator might be half empty – and yet there may be lines of up to three hours at the other elevator, which allows walk-in visitors. James André reports from the Eiffel Tower High demand at the pre-booked elevator can cause backups that force people to wait long beyond their scheduled visit. "Beyond the waste in terms of efficiency, and the unhappy visitors ... employees' patience has run out," said the CGT's Denis Vavassori. He said that the problem was not that 50 percent of tickets are now pre-booked, but that all visitors should be allowed access to the same elevators in order to better manage the flows. He said management has refused to budge, however. "We're not talking about a failure ... there's just an adjustment that needs to be made," Vavassori said. Disappointed tourists milled about near the Tower's base on Wednesday. "This has to be the Frenchest story of them all," one told FRANCE 24's James André. "The Eiffel Tower is on strike." LAST MINUTE INFORMATION : Due to a strike, the Eiffel Tower is closed since 4:00 pm (16h00). Visitors with tickets, please check your mailbox for further information. We are trully sorry for the inconvenience. pic.twitter.com/oTpHFrXYFH La tour Eiffel (@LaTourEiffel) August 1, 2018 The tower, which welcomed more than six million visitors last year, has been hit by repeated strikes by its 300-strong staff in recent years over issues ranging from pick-pocketing to maintenance work. SETE said that the last lift is scheduled for 4pm local time Wednesday. After that time, visitors will not be able to climb the stairs to the top but those who are already inside will be able to stay as long as they wish. The Eiffel Tower is one of the most visited sites in the French capital, with 6.2 million visitors in 2017. (FRANCE 24 with AFP) Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe<doc-sep>FILE PHOTO: Visitors queue to visit the Eiffel tower in Paris, France, June 2, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo PARIS (Reuters) - Staff at the Eiffel Tower walked out on strike on Wednesday in a dispute over lengthening queues at the Paris landmark, forcing it to close during the peak summer tourist season. Talks between the CGT trade union and the tower’s management over a new access system - which according to workers was responsible for “monstrous” lines of visitors - reached deadlock on Wednesday afternoon, and the site closed at 4 pm (1400 GMT). It was not clear whether the strike would continue on Thursday. The new system, which from July has reserved separate lifts for different types of ticket-holders, was exhausting staff who had to deal with the frustrated tourists, union officials said. The site’s management has said the summer months were always busy. [nL5N1UR79E] Each year over six million tourists go up the 342-metre (1,063-foot) tower, the French capital’s most famous attraction.<doc-sep>As of 4 p.m. today local time, the Eiffel Tower is closed due to a workers' strike. This isn't the first time a strike has shuttered the city's most popular tourist attraction, which saw 6.2 million visitors in 2017. Initially, the strike was slated for Wednesday, August 1, but was postponed to Thursday while union members negotiate with management, reports 20 Minutes, a free newspaper in France. Here's what we know: What's this whole thing all about? Lines, for the most part. There are two lines at the Eiffel Tower, and they each lead to different elevators. One line is for people who have booked their tickets months in advance, and the other is for visitors who arrive sans reservation. Originally, only 20 percent of tickets were available for advance booking on the Eiffel Tower's website, but in July, management changed that number to 50 percent. "The workers don't understand why, in non-peak hours, the people in the line without pre-booked tickets cannot use the lift for the people with a reserved time slot, since it will sometimes be going up only partially full while there is still a huge queue at the other lift," says Gail Boisclair, a Condé Nast Traveler specialist and the owner and founder of Perfectly Paris. How long will the Eiffel Tower stay closed? As of now, the strike is still slated for Thursday, all day, but if there's no resolution after the day's strike, says Boisclair, "it's possible the tower will stay closed for a longer period of time." What do you do if you've already booked a ticket? Check your email: Eiffel Tower management teams are contacting people who bought tickets in advance to let them know of their options. Are the lines really that much worse? Some sightseers who arrive without a ticket reservation say so—Reuters reports some waits were up to three hours to get a ticket and into the elevator. Steamy temperatures in the city—which have hovered around 100 degrees Fahrenheit—don't help the situation. (A spokesperson for Eiffel Tower management said wait times for visitors without a ticket are the same as last year, reports Le Parisien.) Has the Eiffel Tower been closed because of strikes before? Oui. Workers struck in 2013 over security and working conditions, and again in 2015 over pickpocket concerns, reports The Independent. I'm in Paris. What else can I do? So glad you asked. This is a developing story. Please keep checking back for more updates.<doc-sep>T he Eiffel Tower has been forced to close as employees at the Paris monument went on strike over long queues. One of the most famous landmarks in the world was closed at 4pm after staff agreed to walk out over booking procedures that staff claim have created “monstrous” waiting times. From last month, the Eiffel Tower has allowed half of its tickets to be booked in advance. However unions that represent the tower’s 300 employees have complained that different ticket holders are being allocated separate lifts, increasing waiting times. Lifts allocated for visitors who have pre-booked have at times empty while walk-in customers have seen waits of around three hours to gain access to the elevators. One tourist told FRANCE 24: “This has to be the Frenchest story of them all. The Eiffel Tower is on strike.” Visitors to Paris took to Twitter to share their disappointment. Ivana Jovicic wrote on Twitter: “My life’s a joke. Wait 21 years to go to Paris and the f****** Eiffel Tower is closed.”<doc-sep>
Workers at the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris went on strike Wednesday, disappointing and frustrating thousands of tourists. Paris was the third most visited city in the world last year, according to the MasterCard 2017 Global Destination Cities Index, and the summer months are the height of tourism for the French capital. Just over 16 million people visited the city in 2017, and nearly 7 million are estimated to visit the Eiffel Tower each year. Nonetheless, workers at the city's most iconic landmark have chosen the peak season to strike, Agence France-Presse reported. However, Denis Vavassori, a union representative for the workers, explained that the strike actually aims to improve the experience for visitors. The tourist attraction changed its ticketing policy last month, allowing half of its daily tickets to be pre-booked online and sending those with reservations to a specific elevator. Eiffel Tower employees claim this has created "monstrous" wait times for those who don't book in advance. "There have been days with three-hour-long queues. Some elderly people fainted," Vavassori, who spoke on behalf of the attraction's 300 employees, told the Associated Press. "We are exhausted, and we do not want to relive that in August." Despite the strikers' desire to make things better for tourists, many of those visiting Paris right now are angry that they won't be able to visit France's most famous landmark. "This has to be the Frenchest story of them all," visitor James André told France 24. "The Eiffel Tower is on strike." "This is my first time in Paris, and I was really excited to see the Eiffel Tower and...the city from the top, but now it is closed," tourist Nico Schulze Bilk told the AP. "We are very let down, because we booked one month in advance to go up to the last floor of the Eiffel Tower," another tourist said, adding that she understood the striking employees' concerns. The attraction's operator, SETE, which is majority-owned by the Parisian government, said it is "well aware of the disappointment for visitors because of the monument's closure, and its negative impact on the image of both the city and country," The Independent reported. Vavassori said employees will continue to strike until an acceptable solution has been found. He explained that the employees aim to "reach an agreement to reopen the Eiffel Tower and welcome our visitors under the best possible conditions." This isn't the first time Eiffel Tower striking employees have shuttered the landmark. In 2016, the tower closed as workers protested over concerns about an upcoming paint job. Earlier this year, security staff at the tower went on strike as well, forcing the landmark to shut down.