エッフェル塔、ストライキで１日閉鎖　仏パリ

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス・パリの世界有数の観光名所、エッフェル塔が２８日、従業員による１日限りのストライキのため、閉鎖された。運営会社ＳＥＴＥが発表した。（写真は、仏パリで、エッフェル塔の前に掲げられた閉鎖のお知らせの看板）
　左派系労働組合「労働総同盟（ＣＧＴ）」は発表で、ストライキの目的は「現在の運営方針」に抗議するためと説明した。この日は塔を設計したギュスターブ・エッフェルの没後１００年に当たった。
　ＣＧＴは、ＳＥＴＥが「大惨事に向かっている」と指摘。入場者数予測を高く見積もり、修繕費を低く見積もるなど「過度に野心的で持続可能ではない」事業計画に基づいて運営していると批判した。
　公式サイトによると、エッフェル塔には年７００万人近くが訪れ、うち外国人が４分の３を占める。
　新型コロナウイルスの流行で入場者数は激減したが、２０２２年には５９０万人にまで回復した。
　ＣＧＴによると、ＳＥＴＥの予算は年間入場者７４０万人という数字に基づいているが、これまでこの人数を達成したことはない。
　組合のエッフェル塔職員代表、ステファン・デュさんはＡＦＰに、エッフェル塔には必要な「大規模修繕」を実施するための必要な資金が十分にないと話した。
　「エッフェル塔は古い。１３０歳のおばあちゃんだ」「エレベーターは１８９９年製だ」と指摘した。
　パリ市から資金援助を得られない限り、「２０２５年には資金がなくなる」と説明した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/28-16:48）

The Eiffel Tower, one of the world's top tourist attractions, was closed Wednesday after staff went on strike, the landmark's operator said.
The one-day stoppage on the 100th anniversary of the death of engineer Gustave Eiffel, who built the tower, was to protest against the current way it is managed, the hard-left CGT union said in a statement.
The tower's operator SETE was headed for disaster, it said.
The CGT said management was running the Eiffel Tower according to a business model that was too ambitious and unsustainable and that it said was based on an inflated estimate of future visitor numbers, while under-estimating construction costs.
SETE apologised to visitors, advising anyone with electronic tickets for Wednesday to check their email for more information on their booking.
The Eiffel Tower -- Paris's most famous landmark -- attracts nearly seven million visitors a year, around three-quarters of them foreigners, according to its website.
During the Covid pandemic numbers dropped sharply due to closures and travel restrictions, but recovered to 5.9 million in 2022.
The CGT said the tower's management was basing its future budget on 7.4 million annual visitors, although this level has never been reached.
Stephane Dieu, a CGT union rep at the Eiffel Tower, told AFP that the monument was not sufficiently funded to pay for very large maintenance work that was needed.
The Eiffel Tower is old, it's an old lady of 130 years, he said. We have lifts here that were built in 1899.
Unless a financial deal could be made with the city of Paris, we will run out of cash in 2025, despite our visitor numbers.
Some visitors who had hoped to go up the 1,083-feet structure expressed their frustration when they were turned away.
We came here this morning to visit this magnificent Eiffel Tower, said Alessandro Monaco, 40, an Italian tourist.
We were gobsmacked to see that there was a strike, that was a bit tough. It's a real pity, he said.
But Marie-Christine Riviere, a French health insurance consultant, said she was not too disappointed at being unable to climb up.
The important thing is to see the Eiffel Tower, strike or no strike, she told AFP.
Eiffel died on December 27, 1923, at the age of 91.
While he will always be remembered mostly for his eponymous tower, he designed hundreds of other landmarks around the globe.
He created his reputation as a builder of railway bridges, but also used his metal wizardry to build the Pest railway station in Hungary, lighthouses in Finland and Madagascar, the structure of the Saigon Central Post Office in Ho Chi Minh City and the iron framework of the Statue of Liberty in New York.
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