The Eiffel Tower, one of the world's prime tourist attractions, was closed Wednesday after staff went on strike, the tower's operator said.

The strike on the 100th anniversary of the death of engineer Gustave Eiffel, who built the tower, was to protest "the current way it is managed", the hard-left CGT union said in a statement.

The tower's operator SETE was "headed for disaster", it said.

SETE apologised to visitors, advising anyone with electronic tickets for Wednesday "to check their email".

The Eiffel Tower, Paris's most famous landmark, attracts nearly seven million visitors a year, around three-quarters of them foreigners.

Eiffel died on December 27, 1923, at the age of 91.