Rising attendance at a museum dedicated to Arsene Lupin has angered residents of the town of Etretat in Normandy due to the massive influx of tourists.
This is called the ransom of success. The popularity of the Netflix series Lupine with Omar Sy has led to a sharp increase in attendance at Clos Lupin, a Norman museum in the town of Étretat devoted to the adventures of the gentleman burglar Arsène Lupin, and the life of its author Maurice Leblanc (owner of a secondary residence in the region).
No Covid effect for museum visits therefore, but indeed a Netflix effect with a turnover up 300%, and a number of visits multiplied by ten in the space of a few months! In addition to the French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch visitors are regularly counted, proof if one needed more of the immense popularity of Lupine throughout the world…
But this enthusiasm does not only make people happy, starting with the director of the museum, Marylise Alix, questioned by our colleagues from the Pointwho laments the influence of the Netflix series on ticket sales: “We have the impression of having become the museum of Omar Sy when we have nothing to do with it” she notably declared to the weekly.
Worse, the tourist craze for the museum is generating real tensions in Étretat where many residents have already taken measures to avoid traffic jams in the city, overcrowding in shops or even illegal parking on private properties.
“It would not take more than 5,000 people in total to be well, but we often exceed 6,000 or 7,000” deplored the mayor of the city André Baillard, who denounces a worrying increase in removals: a loss of 400 residents over the last twenty years out of a population of 1339 inhabitants!
Things should unfortunately not work out over the next few months for the Étretatais, while the third part of Lupin should land by the end of the year exclusively on the Netflix platform.