"The Eiffel Tower is postponing its reopening to the public until a later date, which we will communicate to you as soon as possible," said an announcement on its Facebook.
According to a statement on its Twitter account, "Visitors who pre-purchased tickets for visits between 16 December and 6 January 2021 will be reimbursed early next week."
Paris' top tourist landmark has been closed since 30 October, but was scheduled to reopen when France's second Covid-19 lockdown ended on 15 December – coincidentally the birthday of the engineer who designed and oversaw construction of the tower, Gustave Eiffel.
🇬🇧 It's Gustave Eiffel's birthday! He was born 188 years ago, in 1832 in @Dijon, France. Famous thanks to my construction, he left us a heritage of hundreds of metal works around the world like the ingenious structure of the @StatueEllisNPS 🇺🇸👇#EiffelTower
— La tour Eiffel (@LaTourEiffel) December 15, 2020
But the government announced that the lifting of the restrictions would be more gradual than expected, with museums, theatres and cinemas to remain closed for three more weeks.
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Paris's Eiffel Tower top floor reopens to visitors on 15 July
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Eiffel Tower opens for business - with coronavirus restrictions
The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the attendance at the Eiffel Tower to fall by around 80 percent compared to 2019.
According to Jean-François Martins, president of the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (Sete), before the second lockdown, the monument received "2,500 visitors per day when it could accommodate up to 25,000".
This was due to the sanitary measures like social distancing that meant the elevators were only half-filled, and the night curfew that preceded the second lockdown had meant earlier closure.
