Alone with his notes in front of the Louvre museum's Egyptian antiquities, Kiyoshi Yokoi does not expect visitors. The tour guide, who works in Île-de-France with an essentially Japanese clientele, did not register a single group reservation before October 2020. "I hope to accompany a few individuals, but that looks complicated because the agencies Japanese no longer send tourists to Europe, "he laments.
In the meantime, the guide hones his knowledge of the most visited museum in the world, now almost empty. Despite its reopening on Monday and the enlargement of the group size to 25 visitors, tour guides are also rare in the corridors of the Louvre. Those who have managed to find customers do not leave them for a minute and enjoy being able to stroll around with so much space in the vast, barely recognizable museum without its thousands of smartphones turned towards Mona Lisa. A pleasure that barely compensates for their dismay.
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On Monday, more than 200 tour guides demonstrated in front of the glass pyramid to publicize the precariousness of their situation. The mobilization is all the stronger as the critical period, especially for independent guides. Subject to short contracts and paid for the service, they cannot claim unemployment and have had no money since the museums closed their doors in early March. “We live on the solidarity fund set up by the state, but that is not enough. I have just taken an extra job to be able to hold on financially and retraining is in everyone's mind , ” says Frédérique Laurent, who is starting out in the business. Already affected by societal changes, new technologies and the habits of modern tourism, their profession may not survive the coronavirus epidemic. "The public is more and more used to cultivating themselves, to discovering online exhibitions ... It is dramatic but I think that the profession will not recover from the crisis. Guides, as we have known them, are over, ” regrets Frédérique Laurent, who hopes that the profession will reinvent itself in another way.
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Kyra Meinau has recently been working as an independent tour guide but is already worried about her future. “This whole year is falling apart. My clientele is mainly American. And if you believe the airlines and policies across the Atlantic, the situation should not improve before 2022, she explains. We have no visibility for the rest. ”
We feel abandoned by everyone. It is not because we are no longer seen in museums because we have no more work that we no longer exist.
Kyra Meinau, tour guide in Île-de-FranceThe young woman especially deplores a lack of consideration on the part of the authorities. “We feel abandoned by everyone: first of all from the State, which always puts heritage after other cultural fields. But also local authorities who promote free tours and leave us aside, ” she says. Until the situation is clarified Kyra Meinau has found a summer job in Charente-Maritime to be able to support herself.
To allow us to approach the future with a little more serenity, the guides ask to obtain an intermittent status, just like the artists. They also want better recognition of the expertise of their profession. "Being a guide is not just a passion, it takes time and a lot of work beforehand ," explains Kiyoshi Yokoi before returning to contemplate the sphinxes. He has four months ahead of him to prepare for his next guided tour. Four more months without visitors.
