{"id":12157,"date":"2016-06-29T16:51:34","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T21:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fertur-travel.com\/blog\/?p=12157"},"modified":"2023-08-25T16:47:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T21:47:34","slug":"is-machu-picchu-losing-its-allure-with-record-numbers-flocking-to-the-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fertur-travel.com\/blog\/2016\/is-machu-picchu-losing-its-allure-with-record-numbers-flocking-to-the-site\/12157\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Machu Picchu losing its allure with record numbers flocking to the site?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Machu<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As predicted,\u00a0more travelers\u00a0than ever are flocking to the iconic Inca Sanctuary of Machu Picchu<\/strong>. Nearly 1.3 million visitors toured\u00a0the site in 2015<\/a>, according to official figures provided by Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Commerce and Tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The daily average number of visitors during the high season months of July, August, and even October, swelled to well over four thousand people per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Time to throw out the oft-cited 2,500 daily limit once and for all. It hasn’t been observed since 2011, when Peru\u00a0celebrated the centennial of Machu Picchu’s scientific discovery by Hiram Bingham<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These higher figures could have easily fit into a narrative about the unbridled commercialization and “ruin” of\u00a0Machu Picchu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Daily<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But that was before the\u00a0new Machu Picchu Master Plan<\/strong> was approved last year, and Peru starting taking bold steps to expand and improve tourist\u00a0infrastructure to \u2014 yes, accommodate more tourists, but also to \u2014 ensure the conservation and sustainability of the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With those measures, Peru\u00a0averted the long-feared threat of Machu Picchu being added to UNESCO\u2019s list of endangered cultural heritage sites<\/a>. UNESCO\u2019s chief Kishore Rao<\/strong> went out of his way\u00a0to praise Peruvian officials for their management\u00a0of Machu Picchu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Their labor reflects the perfect state of conservation and maintenance of the site, which is admired by the whole world,” Rao said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, with such large crowds, how is it possible that Machu Picchu<\/strong> hasn’t lost\u00a0its\u00a0spirit of mystery,\u00a0the\u00a0spark of inspiration\u00a0that elevates\u00a0it\u00a0to the category of cultural heritage of humanity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u00a0say\u00a0it hasn’t.\u00a0I base that, in part, on my own experience every time I return to Machu Picchu<\/a> and get that first glimpse of the gleaming white granite structures poetically melded into the natural landscape<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also did\u00a0some research the other night \u2014\u00a0something that\u00a0most people coming to Peru for the first time probably do on their own. Only, I really went for it. I scanned, page-by-page, hundreds of review\u00a0titles\u00a0of Machu Picchu\u00a0posted during\u00a02015 on TripAdvisor<\/strong>. I paid special attention to see if there was a correlative rise in negative reviews with those particularly crowded months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Machu<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bleary eyed from that exercise, this is what I found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overwhelmingly, the post\u00a0titles reflect\u00a0jubilant raves, even during the months of July through October, when totals averaged upwards of\u00a0four thousand visitors per day. Occasional critiques\u00a0about Machu Picchu being too crowded, too costly or generally not everything it\u2019s popularly cracked up to be are dwarfed by hundreds of tourists\u00a0extolling Machu Picchu as \u201cWOW AND WOW AGAIN AND AGAIN AGAIN\u2026\u2026<\/em>,\u201d\u00a0\u201cExceeded the highest expectations<\/em>,\u201d and\u00a0\u201cBeyond Breathtaking and Spectacular!<\/em>\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Master Plan\u2019s stated aim is to drastically reconceptualize<\/strong> how visitors perceive and experience Machu Picchu, to make it conceptually larger than the confines of the iconic postcard image we all know so well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That reconceptualization is already happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More and more people are spanning out, scaling the vertical stone steps to the top of Huayna Picchu<\/strong>, hiking to the peak of Machu Picchu Mountain, and backtracking around to the Inti Punku Sun Gate or to the Inca Bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional plans are underway to open the Andenes Orientales (Eastern Terraces<\/strong>) and the Inca ruins of Inkaraqay to visitors. Machu Picchu\u2019s resident archaeologist Piedad Champi says integrating those ruins into new entry routes to the sanctuary are scheduled to happen within the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andenes Orientales (Eastern Terraces)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Andenes<\/a>
The Andenes Orientales (Eastern Terraces) of Machu Picchu are well on their way to being cleared and restored as part of a new route up to the iconic Inca sanctuary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Andenes<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inkaraqay (Km 116)<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/
Work continues to clear and restore the Inca site of Inkaraqay, located on the nearly vertical side of the Huayna Picchu, the peak that looms over Machu Picchu.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Several  of the Inca researchers, explorers and archaeologists whom I respect most lament the recent transformation of Machu Picchu. The days of freely wandering the sanctuary in contemplative peace and solitude are probably over for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the inevitable result of Peru\u2019s worldwide campaign, now in its ninth year, declaring Machu Picchu a \u201cWonder of the World.<\/strong>\u201d Peru is addressing myriad problems that threatened the site \u2014 from fixing the inadequate solid waste management to creating alternatives to Aguas Calientes as the sole bottleneck gateway to reach the ruins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, Peru is now finally coming to grips with what inviting the world<\/em> to experience Machu Picchu entails.  And more people than ever are sharing that awe-inspiring first glimpse of the shining white granite citadel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isn\u2019t that the way it should be with cultural heritage of humanity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Machu<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As predicted,\u00a0more travelers\u00a0than ever are flocking to the iconic Inca Sanctuary of Machu Picchu. Nearly 1.3 million visitors toured\u00a0the site in 2015, according to official figures provided by Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Commerce and Tourism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[697,838],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-12157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archaeology_sites","tag-machu-picchu-conservation","tag-machu-picchu-visitor-totals-2015","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t