PARIS - Staff at the Eiffel Tower agreed to end their strike on Thursday evening, a union official said, meaning the monument will reopen on Friday.

The tower - Paris's most famous tourist attraction - closed on Wednesday afternoon in a dispute over a new access system that workers said had caused "monstrous" queues.

Staff are angry over a decision last month to start setting aside half of the Eiffel Tower's daily tickets for people who buy them online in advance and choose a scheduled time for their visit.

Previously just 20 percent of tickets to go up the 324-meter "Iron Lady" could be booked ahead of time.

The tower's management has also started reserving specific elevators for each type of ticket holder, a move which "creates lines that are at times monstrous and often lopsided," the CGT union said.

During off-peak times for pre-booked tickets, such as the early afternoon, the reserved elevator might be half empty -- despite lines of up to 3 hours at the elevator for walk-ins.

And high demand at the pre-booked elevator can cause back-ups that force people to wait long beyond their scheduled visit.

Each year over 6 million visitors go up the 342-metre (1,063-foot) tower in the French capital.

The tower has been hit by repeated strikes by its 300-strong staff in recent years over issues ranging from pick-pocketing to maintenance work.