The Price of Popularity

The Price of Popularity

It took the outside world almost four centuries to discover the existence of Machu Picchu, that fabled Lost City of the Inca. After a visit to the ruins at the peak of the June to August high season, you'll swear the world is determined to make up for lost time.

No one doubts that the site is literally straining under the weight of the influx of visitors, says sanctuary director Dr. Fernando Astete. Estimates say the ground is sinking at the rate of about one inch a year. On a high-season weekend, such as the one that falls around Peru's Independence Day in late July, Machu Picchu will host in excess of 3,000 visitors a day. By September, daily totals begin to fall to a more manageable 1,500 daily visitors, and a typical February day, in the lowest of the low season, usually sees a relatively paltry 1,000 people pass through the entry turnstiles.

Helicopter service to the ruins was eliminated in 2000. A one-time plan to construct an aerial tram to the site has been jettisoned with the realization that such a service would need more than 6,000 passengers per day to be viable, to say nothing of the visual damage the towers would inflict on the site.

A current master plan being developed aims to cap numbers at 2,500 visitors per day, according to Astete, and, for now, that plan has satisfied UNESCO, which for years has been threatening to place Machu Picchu on its list of endangered sites. Such a move would have entailed UNESCO-imposed limits; for now, Machu Picchu has staved off that eventuality.

Astete says the Insituto Nacional de Cultura, which oversees Machu Picchu, is searching for ways to spread the numbers out more evenly over the year. Incentives may be offered for coming during the off-season; disincentives could be imposed for visiting during the peak season.

-By Jeffrey Van Fleet