LOCALS have expressed
concern at the development
of a new airport that will
allow tourists to fly direct to
Machu Picchu – a Unesco
World Heritage Site – fearing
that it will cause structural
damage to the ancient
ruins and environmental
degradation across the
Sacred Valley, according to
reports.
Development has begun
for the airport in Chinchero,
a village between Cusco
and Machu Picchu, with
government plans to
complete it by 2023.
In January, Machu Picchu
introduced ticketing
measures that require
visitors to select specific
time slots and arrive within
an hour of their allocated
time or risk being turned
away, in an effort to ease
overtourism. More than
1,5 million tourists
visited the site in 2018,
almost double the limit
recommended by Unesco.
Celeste Muir, marketing
manager of Thompsons
Holidays, says there is big
demand from its customers
for Machu Picchu, citing
it as their main reason to
visit Peru. She believes
that the airport may be
great for tourism but hopes
the Peruvian government
has done its homework in
terms of infrastructure and
transfers to and from the
airport.
Currently, South Africans
can reach Machu Picchu by
travelling to Alejandro Velasco
Astete Airport in Cusco via
Jorge Chavez International
Airport in Lima and then
either catch a train or bus or
embark on the four-day Inca
Trail to reach the site.
The Cusco airport has only
one runway and is limited
to handling stopover flights
from Lima and nearby cities
like La Paz, Bolivia. The new
airport will be able to handle
larger aircraft on international
routes across Latin America
and the US, according to
reports.
