2018 is a good year for the heritage. For the first time in its long history, and taking into account the last three Saturdays of closure because of the yellow vests, the Centre for national monuments has exceeded the symbolic threshold of 10 million visitors. As of 2017, the Mont-Saint-Michel, Sainte-Chapelle (+20%) and the Arc de triomphe (+10%) – which has had to close for ten days because of the rampage – have fired their pin of the game. The panthéonisation of Simone Veil, in June, has also helped to draw attendance from the Pantheon to the top, with more than 20% of the additional inputs.

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“international tourists are come from many in Paris this year, and our cultural programming has attracted the French”

Philippe Bélaval, chairman of the CMN

“The international tourists came to many in Paris this year, said Philippe Bélaval, president of the SPC. And our cultural programming has attracted the French.” The exhibition Held Bettina Rheims, from 9 February to 30 April, for example, has allowed the châteaux de Vincennes and Cadillac will display a new attendance record. “There was also an effect Stéphane Bern. Thanks to its mission and the lottery, no one has ever spoken so much about heritage. The subject monument was placed on the front of the stage and became a pole of attraction for the public,” adds the president of the SPC.

Philippe Bélaval hope that the trend will last into 2019. The image of a Paris in flames, those of the interior of the Arc de triomphe devastated that went around the world. “All this will necessarily have a negative impact on international tourism”, fears Philippe Bélaval.

In the immediate future, the NMC is preparing to make a gesture for the visitors. Those crossing the threshold of a national monument on December 19, will be given a pass to another monument on the network. A game “Find the #MonumentMystère”will also be put online this 19 December, on the center’s website. In game: a pass queuing for two people, valid for one year.