MUMBAI: Indians are travelling abroad like never before, and Patrick Branco Ruivo, managing director of the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE, in French), is determined to grab a fair slice of this pie. “Indian visitors represent 4% of our total visitors right now,” said Ruivo, over tea at the Sofitel hotel in Mumbai, where he’s due to speak at the Global Fintech Festival this week. “My goal is to double that to 8% by 2026.
” Under Ruivo, SETE has taken many steps to make the Eiffel Tower a more appealing destination for Indian tourists. Earlier this year, it became the first merchant in Europe to accept payments through UPI, allowing Indians to pay for tickets, food and merchandise in rupees. At the Global Fintech event, Ruivo will announce a new campaign that will allow Indians to book tickets for the Eiffel Tower (using UPI) directly when applying for a French visa.
They’ve also introduced vegetarian meals at the two restaurants at the Tower, with an eye to catering to Indian food habits. “It’s very important to me that we personalise the experience for our visitors,” he said. “The way we welcome an Indian visitor shouldn’t be the same way we welcome a Brazilian visitor or an American visitor.
I want to see how we can build economic and cultural bridges between our two cultures – France and India.” It’s obvious that the former diplomat—he worked at the French embassy in Bangladesh for three years—sees his job as bigger than just the day-to-day management of one of the world’s largest tourist sites. Since joining SETE as managing director in 2018, he has made it his mission to transform the visitor experience at the Eiffel Tower, adding a stylish, upmarket flavour to the 135-year-old ‘Iron Lady’ of Paris.
There has been an extensive renovation of the Le Jules Verne restaurant on the tower’s second floor, which now boasts a second Michelin star, and a personalised VIP package that offers guests a behind-the-scenes experience, complete with a glass of champagne on the top floor. There’s also a new branding effort (La Tour Eiffel) to reposition the tower in the luxury space, earning it a coveted spot as an associate member of the Comité Colbert, the prestigious French luxury goods association. “We are also working on co-branding with select brands,” he said.
“Pierre Hermé (iconic French pastry chef) has come up with two special recipes for macarons, for example, that we sell at the tower.” The biggest test Ruivo has faced over his tenure—apart from the COVID-19 crisis—was the race to get the Eiffel Tower ready for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The monumental facelift began all the way back in 2019 with a three-year repainting job.
Nineteen previous layers of paint were stripped away, the signature brown it has sported since 1968 replaced with a yellow-brown hue that was architect Gustave Eiffel’s personal preference. The tower’s iconic vintage lifts also underwent renovations, as did the gardens surrounding it. Earlier this year, five Olympic rings—each nine meters tall—were mounted on the tower for the Olympics, a complex engineering task that took two huge cranes to accomplish.
Ruivo admitted that this was a “very challenging period” that required all his team’s grit and determination. But once the opening ceremony started, floats making their way down the Sienne with the tower dominating the backdrop, it all seemed worth it. “Billions of people watched the opening ceremony, which ended with Céline Dion performing on the Eiffel Tower,” he said.
“It was very important because there were three icons together—the tower, the Olympic rings and Céline Dion. And when you have three iconic things together, it lends to a lot of emotion. It was very beautiful and it touched the hearts of the people.
” With the Olympics in the rearview mirror, Ruivo is now looking to the future. His next goal is to work on “digitalisation”, expanding the Eiffel Tower’s online presence and making it more accessible to those who cannot—yet—travel to Paris in person. This includes some mundane developments, such as the recently launched, long-overdue e-shop, where people can buy souvenirs and co-branded merchandise online.
But there are also more exciting experiments with virtual reality. “One month ago, we launched an immersive experience at the tower, where you can put on a headset and (virtually) go up the tower,” he said. “But the idea is to one day make it possible to do that from your home in Mumbai.
” But, Ruivo is keen to caution, digitalisation cannot replace the human touch. “It’s very important to have that personalised experience, to be welcomed by people,” he said. “Because, for a lot of people, visiting the Eiffel Tower is a life’s dream.
We have to make their visit like a suspended moment in time. A moment that they will remember for the rest of their lives.”.
