The Entrance to Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu being the great world wonder that it is has thousands of visitors every year, today there is a daily limit of 2500 people allowed in to visit Machu Picchu, however it did not start that way. Machu Picchu was a destination reserved only for archeologist and hard core backpackers several years ago. When the guerrilla wars of the 80’s and 90’s came to an end Peru began opening its doors to more and more tourists eager to visit the Inca city. As the years passed the government as well as many Peru travel agencies have done their best to promote Peru and Machu Picchu as a safe and entertaining travel destination. After Machu Picchu became known as a UNESCO world heritage site and being deemed a world wonder the figures in relation to the arriving visitors have multiplied. Machu Picchu became a major source of income for the Peruvian Government grossing an estimated amount of 40 million dollars every year with an average of 300,000 people visiting the Inca city.
This dramatic increase was great for the country in the monetary sense but was taking its toll on Machu Picchu itself. The amount of people visiting the Unesco site was damaging the nearby paths leading to the city. One major incident was in 2000, during the shooting of a beer commercial, a crane damaged a sacred stone pillar on the site. UNESCO immediately issued the Peruvian government a warning because of this and threatened to place Machu Picchu on the endangered sites list. This means that the Peruvian government had not maintained the site to UNESCO standards.
Due to all this the government has limited the number of visitors to Machu Picchu to just 2500 people per day. This daily number is somewhat enforced; On certain times of the year it is taken more seriously than others and people without and entrance ticket have been turned away. The best thing you can do to make sure you get in is to purchase your tickets online several days in advance.
There is now also a daily limit to Huanyna Picchu which is the tall mountain located behind the ruins of Machu Picchu. It’s a bit of a climb to get up there but it is very worth it, you can see the surrounding Andes landscape from an eagles eye view. The daily limit is of 200 visitors allowed in at 7am and another 200 allowed in at 10am. After that you would have to wait till the following morning in case you really wanted to see it.
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