Should tourists visit Peru’s Incan ruins?

Peru has always held an enormous fascination for me and climbing Machu Picchu has long been on my list of things to do. But archaeologists are warning that Peru’s Incan ruins, including Machu Picchu, are straining under a tourist boom.

For a long time, travelling to Peru was complicated by the continuing struggle with the Maoist Shining Path rebels. But now it’s become the hot new destination with everyone from Cameron Diaz to Princess Beatrice visiting in the past year. In 1992, just 9,000 people visited Machu Picchu; last year it was 700,000. A former culture ministry official has said: “If we open up Machu Picchu to more tourism, the place will be destroyed within 10 years.”

The authorities have tried to limit the numbers on the hiking trail but now that means that there is a huge increase in tourists going to other ancient sites, such as Choquequirao, the partially excavated sister city to Machu Picchu, and that’s also a problem.

It makes me so sad to hear about the damage caused to our priceless historical and wilderness treasures by irresponsible tourism. I believe litter is a big problem on the slopes of Mount Everest as well. And in the Arctic, I saw lots of bits of plastic, not from tourists but washed into the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic coasts off Europe and North America.

This makes me think twice about going to Machu Picchu. If I ever do go, I’ll be sure to book with a reputable operator that ensures benefit for the local people and good environmental practices. A site such as Responsible Travel can help me find the right one. I would also consider a volunteer vacation to ensure I’m part of the solution, not the problem.

What do you think is the solution? Should tourists stop going to Peru’s Incan sites? Should the government heavily restrict it? Already Machu Picchu is closed to hikers in February while they clean up all the garbage discarded by hikers over the previous year. I think there needs to be a wider cultural change, not just a cap on numbers.

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Photograph by szeke (busy) on Flickr, reproduced under a Creative Commons licence.