Peru Celebrates Machu Picchu tourism amid concerns
LIMA, Peru – Tourists love enigmatic Inca city of Machu Picchu high in the Andes of Peru. They may love it too.
As the country prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the rediscovery of the "Lost City of the Incas" on Thursday, archaeologists warn that a stream of visitors and severe mismanagement are threatening one of the wonders of the world .
The Incas built Machu Picchu at the top of a peak in the Andes 7970 feet high, with a breathtaking view of the inhospitable depths that surround it. Some experts believe it was a refuge for the Inca rulers one or more, others that it was a religious sanctuary.
The site receives an average of 1800 visitors per day and the maximum allowed by the authorities is 2,500. Already, the former farming village of Aguas Calientes, which is used as a starting point for tourists has become a town of 4000 people with five-star hotels and restaurants.
In some places, authorities have observed soil erosion and damage to vegetation, Juan Julio Garcia, regional director of the Ministry of Culture of Peru, told The Associated Press.
More tourists, more tourism businesses money and some local government officials of constant pressure to allow more tourists, it would be beneficial supporting local communities.
Cultural guardians fear irreparable damage if the tourist flow surges, and they are particularly concerned about official plans to build a highway to the remote 15th century ruin.
Tourists now have to reach Machu Picchu by foot or a picturesque train ride narrow gauge zigzag.
"One way or another, the train speed control (for tourists). There is a maximum capacity of the train and the maximum capacity determines how many people can reach the monument. However, with a road, any person or company from tourism can reach the site and try to enter the sanctuary, "said Garcia.
But rain washed out the railway in January 2010, trapping tourists in 4000 the cities of Machu Picchu and Aguas Calientes for five days. No road access to the area, the government had to send the tourists by helicopter. In Aguas Calientes, which is the basis for tourism to Machu Picchu, there were food shortages.
Route approved in September, the Peruvian Congress approved the construction of an access road to Machu Picchu.
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This raises a red flag to UNESCO, which included the Inca fortress on its list of World Heritage in 1983, increasing awareness of the site and make it eligible for international technical support. The agency had expressed concern about the management of the site. He said in 2008 that there was "urgent problems with deforestation, the risk of landslides, uncontrolled urban development and illegal access to the sanctuary."
The UN agency threatened to put him on its list of endangered sites if the road project is not canceled, a move that would be a blow to the prestige of Peru.
Peruvian tourism authorities insist that they protect the monument. Carlos Zuniga, head of the Foreign Trade and Tourism Office for the Cuzco region, said officials have shown concern for UNESCO to Machu Picchu by filling out a plan to use the sanctuary and issuing a decree that the funds generated by tourism to Machu Picchu to be used in the maintenance of the site. Previously, earnings were sent to the central government in the capital, Lima.
Garcia, the Ministry of Culture, said the local authorities support the highway project because they want to break the monopoly of Perurail, the railway-owned Chilean and British. Governor Antonio Aguas Calientes Sinchi Roca said monopoly harms the local economy. "A lot of entrepreneurs who could reach the area only the transportation cost is so high."
Lost in the jungle Machu Picchu has been largely ignored by the outside world, abandoned and covered with jungle, mountains, until July 7, 1911, when Yale historian and explorer Hiram Bingham reached Machu Picchu, and later announced its existence . He became famous as the discoverer of the modern site, if Peruvian Agustin Lizarraga had been there first. He wrote on one of the stones of the citadel with a piece of charcoal ". Lizarraga, July 14, 1902, for posterity "
For decades, the remoteness of the site, and the cost of achieving it, kept the tourists at bay. In the 1980s, visitors stayed away in Peru because of a raging guerrilla war that ended in 1999.
In 1991, about 77,000 tourists visited. This number has increased about tenfold over the past decade, reaching over 800,000 in 2009, the year before the railway line away.
The director of Machu Picchu Archaeological Park, Fernando Astete said that the main problem today is that the site area is controlled by the municipal tourism rivals fighting over dollars.
"Local authorities in and around the area do not know what UNESCO is, they know nothing about it. They do not know they are in a protected area, "he told the AP Astete.
Marketing rules Many authorities consider the site as a "marketing problem" and not make decisions based on technical criteria for the conservation of the site, Garcia said.
An example occurred in 2000 when a beer company was permitted to film a television commercial to Machu Picchu. The heavy arm of a crane used in the filming of the iconic fell and damaged Intihuatana Stone, which many consider sacred.
This has not prevented the authorities recently allowed the filming of Bollywood dance scenes for the film 'Endhiran "(" The robot "), starring former Miss World Aishwarya Rai.
The Peruvian government had planned a big party in the ruins themselves for the anniversary on Thursday, but called off when the UNESCO objected.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material May not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Submited at Thursday, July 7th, 2011 at 10:00 am on News by samantha
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