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A History Of Tourism At Machu Picchu

By Terry Philips

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 10Jan2012 Word count: 521 Viewed: 62 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

As fascinating as Machu Picchu is, it took some time after the ruins' discovery before they become tourist destinations. This is in part due to the logistics of getting to the site itself. To reach Machu Picchu, the options are still limited to hiking up the unforgiving mountains or taking a combination of plane to the closest city of Cusco, followed by a long train journey, and then a bus up to the entrance gates.

Yes despite their inherent inaccessibility, the ruins of Machu Picchu have become firmly embedded as a world travel favorite, drawing crowds from across the globe to marvel at the sight of the mist parting over the cloud forest to reveal the ancient mountaintop ruins.

Despite its popularity and the long years that it's been studied, it is still not known for sure what the purpose of Machu Picchu may have been. Construction on it began around 1400 but the site was abandoned when the Spanish conquered Peru, about a century later. It was not until its rediscovery by Hiram Bingham on July 24, 1911 that attention was paid on an international basis to this now famous archaeological site.

The site had been taken over by the surrounding jungle and time was needed in order to clear all the vegetation that was covering it. Following this, it was studied and many of the buildings reconstructed so that tourists would have a better visual of how the citadel is believed to have looked at the time of the Incas. It took until 1976 for restoration to be completed on 30% of Machu Picchu, and the work continues.

Despite requiring reconstruction, the site was fairly intact in comparison to many others, as the Spanish never arrived there. In 1981, it was declared to be a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary and, in 1983, UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site. In an international online poll in 2007, it was chosen as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

For many decades, the remoteness of Machu Picchu, the difficult of reaching it as well as the cost of doing so kept many tourists away. In addition, concern about guerrilla activity in Peru during the 1980s kept visitors from arriving in great numbers. This was gradually to end, particularly after the guerilla conflicts ended in 1999.

Tourism has increased exponentially over recent years. For example, the number of people hiking what is known as the Classic Inca Trail, the primary method of trekking to Machu Picchu, rose from 6,000 in 1984 to an 82,000 in 2000. Currently, the numbers trekking combined with the far greater numbers taking the train combine to close to one million visitors annually.

Due to environmental effects as well as the great number of tourists visiting the site, there is continued concern that it is in danger of deterioration. In 2011, the Peruvian government acted to limit entrance to the site to 2500 persons per day, although many people feel that this is still too many. Although there are frequent rumors that the site will be closed to tourism, this is unlikely to happen as it is so important to the economy.

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