DOUBLE

ONE of the world’s most famous museums is set to nearly double its entry fee for tourists.

The Louvre museum in Paris will increase its ticket prices by 45 per cent for most non-European Union visitors, which includes Brits.

The price hike is set to be introduced early next year, with tourists from countries including the UK, US and China having to pay €32 (£28) to enter the museum.

It is set to raise millions of euros each year to fund a huge overhaul of the Louvre’s most famous gallery.

The price increase follows a heist that took place in October that hit the news globally.

Security and management have been criticised since the incident, which saw four people steal jewellery worth over £76million from the museum.

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After the heist, an audit on the museum was carried out which highlighted how the museum has inadequate security systems and aging infrastructure.

As a result, from January 14, visitors from countries outside the European Economic Area (EU member states, as well as Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) will need to pay an extra €10 (£8.76) to enter the museum.

The new price jump is estimated to raise between €15million (£13.1million) to €20million (£17.5million) each year for the museum, which will go towards supporting the Louvre’s modernisation plans.

Over the past year, the museum has faced a number of issues to do with its structure.

Back in January, French President Emmanuel Macron and the Louvre announced that the museum would be getting improvements and as a part of that suggested higher fees for non-EU residents in 2026.

As part of the report, Macron also said that the Mona Lisa would be moved to a new room to deal with the overcrowding.

It followed the leak of a letter from the museum’s director Laurence des Cars, which highlighted how the museum had several structural issues, water leaks and even that the museum could no longer cope with the current numbers of visitors heading to the attraction each day.

The Louvre will also have a number of other areas renovated, with new facilities added too, such as toilets and restaurants.

And earlier this month, the museum announced that the gallery which houses Greek ceramics was closed due to structural issues.

Each year the Louvre welcomes around nine million people, and more than a 10th of visitors are from the US.

Complaints about overcrowding and long queues at the museum have been going on for a while now, especially through the Salle des Etats gallery, which is where the famous Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is displayed.

Many visitors note how you actually only get a few seconds to see the painting and snap a picture.

The report carried out after the heist last month also revealed that the museum was spending more money on buying new artworks than actually maintaining the attraction itself.

In other museum news, the UK’s newest national museum is more like an IKEA store – and Kate Middleton is already a fan.

Plus, a new £12.5 million museum based on a very famous children’s artist to be ‘world’s largest of its kind’.

THE price of holiday park breaks could almost DOUBLE following the new tourist tax announced in the budget.

Yesterday, Rachel Reeves announced a wave of new rules including the rise of Air Passenger Duty and new tourist tax regulations.

And industry sources have said the shocking tourist tax rise – set to be £2 extra a night – would be ‘scary’  and put prices up for thousands of families.

A senior holiday park executive said: “This tax will destroy holiday dreams, putting a short break at the seaside out of reach for many. 

“Have they put Basil Fawlty in charge of boosting tourism?”

North Yorkshire’s local authorities said they are in favour of introducing the tax – hitting the thousands who holiday in the popular resorts of Scarborough, Whitby and Filey.

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West Yorkshire councils have also said they would impose the charge – putting holiday parks in the Dales in the firing line.

And families taking the cheapest holiday park breaks face the biggest increases.

Right now, a family of four can enjoy a four-night break at a holiday park for around £49 in low season, made up of a £40.80 charge for the break and VAT at 20 per cent.

But the new tax is imposed on four people at the suggested rate of £2 per night that will add £32 to the cost of the holiday – bringing the total up to £81.

That’s a tax rate of 98.5 per cent – an increase of 65 per cent on what holidaymakers currently pay. 

If a family of six have to pay the £2 tax on the same four-night break it would bring the cost of the tax to £48 – and increase the price of the holiday to £97.

That works out as a tax rate of 138 per cent, an increase of 98 per cent over the current costs.

For a family of five paying £100 – £83.33 cost plus 20 per cent VAT – for a four night break, the tax would add £40 to the bill, an increase of 40 per cent on the price of a holiday and a total tax rate of 69 per cent.

For a seven night stay for a family of four, prices for next year start at popular holiday parks at just £79 – £65.83 cost plus 20 per cent VAT.

With the tourist tax, a family of four would have to pay £56, bringing the total cost of the holiday to £135, an increase of 71 per cent on current costs.

Dermot King, COO of Unity Holidays which owns Skirlington Coast in East Yorkshire, said: “Any tax such as this is clearly regressive as it a tax on hard-working people who choose to spend their money taking holidays in this country.

And the far-reaching impact of the tax will also hit those enjoying cottage breaks.

Sykes Holiday Cottages – one of the UK’s biggest self-catering companies – fear the tax increase could devastate staycations.

Ben Spier, Head of Policy and Regulation at Sykes Holiday Cottages, said: “This levy won’t just be felt by families already managing rising household costs.

“It threatens to deter people from choosing holidays in the UK which would be a serious blow for the many communities that depend heavily on spending from the overnight visitors who will face this levy.  

“The UK’s tourism and hospitality businesses are already among the most heavily taxed in Europe, facing everything from steep business rates and corporation tax to some of the highest VAT levels in the sector.

“Adding a new tourism levy risks putting more pressure, and more admin, on the many small businesses – from holiday let owners to local pubs, shops and attractions – who rely on a thriving visitor economy.

“And all this, for a relatively small extra return from visitors who still choose to come.

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“Rather than adding another cost for visitors, disincentivizing them when the aim is to attract more of them, the focus should be on ensuring that the substantial tax income already generated is properly directed to the local communities where it’s generated.”

Eleven holiday parks across the UK went into administration earlier this month – here’s everything you need to know.

It’s awards season crunch time, in the sense that I’m crunching in as much work as I can before a Thanksgiving respite — including a guide to some of the highlights from this week’s issue of The Envelope, covered by my profile of Renate Reinsve.

Whether it’s while you smell turkey legs being turned into gravy (i.e., if you’re me as I write this) or as you’re lounging around over the holiday weekend, I hope you’ll dive into the great stories below. And be sure to take a breather from the mayhem in the process. It’s a marathon, not a sprint!

Digital Cover: Ethan Hawke

(Victoria Will / For The Times)

In the years since the Golden Age of TV, it’s not been uncommon for actors to vie for major awards on both the big and small screens at once. But few in recent memory have done so in such distinct projects as Ethan Hawke in “Blue Moon” and “The Lowdown”: One is a chamber drama about the last days of legendary songwriter Lorenz Hart, the other a noirish tale of a hangdog journalist.

It’s a reflection of the actor’s voracious appetite for the unexpected (see also: “Black Phone 2”), which he reveals that some in Hollywood once found “irritating.”

“Generally, people are more comfortable when they know exactly what you are and what your thing is, and if you keep changing your thing it’s confusing,” he tells writer Emily Zemler. “But it’s always been interesting to me to do different things. It makes acting really exciting to me to keep shaking it up. Each thing has its own geometry and math, and that keeps you really engaged.”

Eva Victor on ‘Sorry, Baby’

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

One of my favorite films of the year, “Sorry, Baby” works on many levels — as a campus satire, a portrait of a friendship, a slice of small-town life. And as writer-director-star Eva Victor writes in a new essay on the film, it took all of those other levels to make the film’s deepest, darkest level possible.

“There was a time in my life when I was looking for a film about going through a trauma that held my hand while I was watching it,” Victor notes, contrasting “Sorry, Baby” with films that depict similar subjects with violent imagery. “I needed the film to care for me, the person who’d been through the difficult thing. I didn’t need a film that existed to teach people how bad it is to go through a bad thing, I needed a film that existed to make me feel less alone.”

How ‘F1’ became a part of F1

As an avowed fan of Formula One, from docuseries “Drive to Survive” to scripted miniseries “Senna,” what fascinated me most watching Apple TV’s summer blockbuster “F1” was the delicate logistical dance it must’ve required to shoot a major theatrical film at actual races on the actual F1 circuit. Maybe that’s my stressed-out editor brain at work, but I asked Nate Rogers to dig into the question.

He reports back that even with legendary racer Lewis Hamilton and Apple on board, the film had to prove “that they could set up at an event like the fabled British Grand Prix at Silverstone and not cause a pileup.”

“We had to rehearse the blocking and staging for about two weeks with a stopwatch … to prove to them that we could actually shoot a scene and get off the track before the race started,” director Joseph Kosinski tells Rogers.

I can recognize a tough deadline when I see one.

Additional highlights from our Nov. 25 issue

Big Brother 2025 viewers have been left in hysterics over Richard’s savage response to Caroline’s eviction

Big Brother viewers have been left “screaming” at Richard’s brutal reaction to Caroline’s exit, with many now backing him as their “clear winner”.

The Big Brother 2025 final is merely days away, but only one housemate can claim the winning title and a substantial cash prize. As personalities continue to clash, tensions keep rising as the finale approaches.

On Friday, Caroline and Nancy were evicted from the house during the series’ second double eviction, which followed just days after housemate Sam’s unexpected back-door departure. Now, ITV2 viewers are all sharing their predictions on who they reckon could be crowned the 2025 champion.

Tonight’s episode (November 9) showed the housemates reacting after Friday’s live eviction. And it was Richard’s seemingly savage response that got fans talking.

Chatting to Big Brother in the Diary Room, Richard was questioned if he missed Caroline, as he said: “Deeply. I could hear violins playing as I sobbed myself to sleep, and the pillow was steeped with my tears.”, reports OK!.

He added, “I wondered how on earth I’m going to manage when I wake up in the morning and she’s not there on the other side of the room to throw her barbed comments in my direction.

“And I woke up this morning and I looked across at the empty bed and I thought Yes.”

Richard then laughed at his remarks as he appeared to celebrate the eviction outcome.

Taking to X, viewers said they were “screaming” at the star’s response. One person wrote: “I’ve seen enough. Richard has to win.”

Another viewer wrote: “I knew Richard was a winner from the moment i saw his VT Maybe i have a boring sense of humour but this man has me howling everytime hes in the diary room.”

A third added: “Richard, I’m screaming.” A fourth penned: “I’m crying at Richard in the diary room, he’s so funny.”

One person said: “I love when Richard just starts howling over himself, he’s so me.”

Another commented: “Richard’s wheeze actually cracks me up.”

One person echoed: “Richard is an absolute comedy genius.”

The ongoing tension between Richard and Caroline began when the pair first met following Richard’s late entrance to the house. Caroline was frequently spotted making digs at him, never letting him forget about ‘pinching’ her eyeball currency.

Richard has characterised their dynamic as “pantomime-like”. Yet during her departure interview, Caroline stuck to her guns that she found Richard “boring”, saying it multiple times, leaving hosts Will and AJ uncertain whether she genuinely meant it.

Big Brother airs Sunday to Friday on ITV2 and ITVX at 9pm.