The overhaul was chiefly funded by an agreement between France and the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, where the Louvre opened an outpost in Abu Dhabi to great fanfare in November 2017.
Chinese surge
In 2017, the Louvre just edged the National Museum of China to remain the most-visited museum in the world with 8.1 million visitors compared to 8 million for the Beijing gallery and 7.3 million for the Metropolitan museum in New York.
While the French remain the biggest patrons of the Louvre, which also home to the Venus de Milo, foreigners accounted for three-quarters of the intake.
Nearly a million Chinese swept through the Louvre's doors in 2018, making them the second biggest foreign visitor group after Americans, who numbered nearly 1.5 million.
"It's a huge leap," Martinez told AFP, noting that five years ago the Chinese were not in the top five of foreign visitors.
The record numbers cap a dramatic turnaround for the Louvre, which like other Paris landmarks had suffered the fallout of several major terror attacks that severely dented visitor numbers.
The Louvre itself was targeted in one attack in February 2017, when an Egyptian man armed with machetes lunged at soldiers on patrol outside the facility.
No visitors were hurt in the incident, which saw police shoot the attacker, seriously injuring him.