YPPOA: New pricing policy for Archaeological Sites and Museums

The new pricing policy of Archaeological Sites and Museums was given a positive unanimous opinion by the Central Archaeological Council today Tuesday.

As it is emphasized, the new pricing policy for entrance tickets to the Archaeological Sites, Monuments and Museums of the Ministry of Culture (about 350) is imposed, based on the data of the increasing traffic of the last 2 years, the use of the electronic ticket in 28 places -to date- with the highest traffic and the fact that the current prices revised from 5 years ago are very low compared to the European average.

The proposal of the new pricing policy is based on a special study commissioned by the competent Organization for the Management and Development of Cultural Resources.

Key points of the new pricing policy:

Implementation of the new pricing policy in two phases:

• Phase I, effective from 01.04.2024:
• Abolition of single entry tickets for more than one Archaeological Site or Museum, where an electronic ticket is fully or partially applied and they are connected to Museums-NPDD.
• Application of a new Personalized Visit service to the Archaeological Site of the Acropolis of Athens, outside the opening hours of the site with a high ticket price. The visit concerns groups of 5 people and up to 4 groups in two hours (07:00-09:00 and 20:00-22:00), with an offer of a special tour and souvenir gifts (will be extended to other areas during the B Phase).
• Phase B, effective from 01.04.2025:
• Rationalization of the price of entrance tickets, according to the classification of Archaeological Sites, Monuments and Museums in 5 categories based on attendance, sometimes their importance in the respective area and the valid entrance ticket. The 5 categories correspond to 5 tiers of entrance ticket prices as follows:

In this way, the existing 9 levels in the scale of entrance ticket prices from 2 to 20 euros are abolished, which in combination with the 4 categories of reduced ticket holders and the 34 free entry holders entail a complex system with disproportionately heavy administrative costs.

• The different pricing of the summer and winter season is abolished with the same entrance price per category throughout the year.
• An additional free entry Sunday is added each month during the winter season (November 1-March 31), namely the third Sunday of the month in addition to the first.
• Abolition of single and joint tickets except for Ancient Olympia, Delphi, Mycenae and Aigai or where, for spatial planning reasons, the joint Venue and Museum ticket is required.
• Maintenance of the reduced entry ticket for people aged 65+ from EU countries. for the period from 1 October to 31 May.
• Maintaining the right of free entry for people up to 25 years of age for EU citizens. and extension of the right of free entry for non-EU citizens. up to the age of 18, instead of the current age of up to 5 years.
• The right of free entry is maintained for the disabled and the categories of people that have been established to date for social or status reasons.
• Issuance of a Culture Card (Culture Gard) for the categories that have been established and will be issued through the application of gov.gr or KEP for domestic taxpayers.

As can be seen from the above, with the new pricing policy for entrance tickets to the Archaeological Sites, Monuments and Museums of the country, the following are achieved:

• Categorization of the places and museums to be visited based on their attendance, their importance for the respective region and the applicable ticket price.
• Streamlining and simplifying ticket categories.
• Attributing to our monuments the value corresponding to their importance for the world cultural heritage.
• Increase of free entry days by one (1) Sunday per month during the winter season for all visitors regardless of their age.
• Elimination of discrimination and expansion of the right of free entry to children and young people, aged 5-18, from non-EU countries.
• Substantial increase in public revenue from tickets and their reinvestment in Culture projects to highlight and promote our cultural heritage at national and international level.