Peru's government on Wednesday outsourced the sale of tickets to Machu Picchu to a private company, a week after protesters cut off access to the country's most famous tourist attraction and halted train service to the region. The plan to do so was withdrawn.
Despite the resolution, the streets, hotels and restaurants surrounding the site remained largely deserted.
Eleven days after the government announced changes to the ticketing system, which had been under the control of the state agency for 15 years, the executive relented and terminated his contract amid questions from the local tourism industry.
Peru's Culture Minister Leslie Urteaga claims that there was fraud in ticket purchases that was not reported by state authorities, resulting in a loss of $1.8 million, and after meeting with the regional president of Cusco and the mayor of the Machu Picchu district, the final agreed to the demonstrators' request.
Authorities pledged to move ticket sales to online platforms controlled by the central government and terminated the contract with virtual ticketing company Joinus, owned by one of Peru's wealthiest economic entities, which took over the service in mid-January. did.
Rail services to the region, which had been suspended on Friday, quickly resumed, but tourist arrivals were still slightly slow.
“It's like the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are very few people,” said Roger Monzon, an employee at the Incas Land Hotel in the Machu Picchu area. There are currently only two tourists from Portugal staying at this hotel.
The few tourists who continued to visit the Inca ruins during the week-long demonstrations, most of them young people, had to take a longer and more difficult route. They drove 210 kilometers (130 miles) from Cusco to the hydroelectric power plant, then walked two hours to reach the Machu Picchu area, where they rested. Then they had to walk another two and a half hours to the stone citadel.
The United States, Germany, France and Brazil are planning visits to Machu Picchu, which has been a World Heritage Site since 1983, citing potential shortages of water and other necessities due to transportation disruptions. The public was advised to be careful in such cases.
Tourism is the main economic activity in Cusco, with more than 200,000 people directly employed in this sector. In the pre-protest era, up to 4,500 visitors entered Machu Picchu each day.
There are no official figures on potential losses for the first week of protests, but some tourism unions estimate the damage at around $4.7 million.
“The losses include not only all sectors directly related to tourism, such as tourist agencies, hotels, restaurants and tour guides, but also markets, taxi drivers and the peasant community,” said Elena González of the Cusco Association of Tourist Agents. the chairman said.
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