Attendance at the Louvre Museum in Paris has rebounded to 8.1 million visitors in 2017, a 10% increase on the previous year.
In 2016, the Louvre received 7.4 million visitors, which was a 13% decrease on 2015. The fall was attributed to a decline of tourists visiting Paris following the terrorist attack on the city in November 2015.
Foreign tourists made up 70% (5.6 million) of last year’s visitors with most (15%) coming from the US, China (9%), the UK (4%) and Germany (3.5%).
The museum had several successful exhibitions in 2017 which contributed to the increase in visitors. Vermeer and masters of the genre painting was seen by nearly 325,000 people while 205,000 saw Valentine of Boulogne, whose tickets were coupled with Vermeer.
Last year also saw the opening of the $1bn Louvre Abu Dhabi in the UAE in November with the new museum inaugurated by dignities from the UAE and France including French President, Emmanuel Macron. The next month it acquired Salvator Mundi, a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci that sold at auction for $450 million.
https://en.rfi.fr/culture/20180108-visitor-numbers-louvre-rebound
