Machu Picchu protests threaten Peru’s status as tourist hot spot

Several days of blockades protesting a new major public contract servicing Machu Picchu this week have cast a shadow over Peru’s struggling tourism industry, which has yet to recover from the pandemic.

The conflict interrupted railway operations to and from the prized Incan ruins and remains unresolved, with only a 72-hour truce in place for now.

Recurrent blockades in Peru have left scores of tourists stranded in recent years. Social unrest disrupted the flow of visitors to the iconic Andean site, the country’s top tourism destination, in 2024 and 2023.


“A foreign tourist who comes to Peru and can’t visit Machu Picchu may decide to change destinations,” said Juan Stoessel, vice-president of the local chamber of tourism. “This is how important this is.”

While the last round of protests was lifted on Wednesday, 1,400 tourists had to be evacuated earlier in the week as they had no other way to leave the remote area near Machu Picchu, according to Tourism Minister Desilu Leon. After a meeting with local authorities on Tuesday, she said they were able to evacuate the remaining 679 visitors.

Machu Picchu is one of the world’s most famous landmarks, where stone terraces and temples rise from lush green slopes, drawing thousands of visitors daily. It’s located in Peru’s Cuzco region, which is also home to a patchwork of government officials including mayors and community leaders in overlapping geographies, as well as tourism operators, each with strong and often competing interests.

But while the administration of Machu Picchu lies with Peru’s executive branch, those local authorities often feel sidelined from both decision-making and the revenue generated by the site.

Protests have been recurrent in recent years. Just last January, access to Machu Picchu was cut off amid a separate dispute over a new ticketing system, stranding travelers until a deal was reached with local authorities.

To reach the ancient citadel perched high in the Andes, visitors must first take a train from Cuzco to the town of Machupicchu. There, they can either hike up a steep mountain or take a bus to the ruins.

That bus service sparked this month’s protests. The route operates under a public concession and is currently transitioning to a new operator. But demonstrators argue there wasn’t enough transparency in how the new contract was awarded.

The route generates some $32 million a year, said Madeleine Burns, who was Peru’s vice minister of tourism from 2022 until June.

“The concession was not put out to tender in time, providing the necessary transparency so that all companies could participate,” Burns said, noting a contract was awarded to a specific company instead. “Lack of transparency is the biggest problem.”

The protests escalated on Sunday when demonstrators blocked the railway tracks along the main route to Machu Picchu, placing rocks of varying sizes and other debris that forced train services to shut down.

Officials warn that the latest disruption is also threatening the livelihoods of thousands of families who depend on the tourism economy in the region, including artisans, farmers and those in the transportation industry. Tourism accounts for 12% of Cuzco’s gross domestic product, according to Burns.

For now, a new negotiation is scheduled for Friday and the Tourism Ministry said in a statement it is committed to implementing a contingency plan to improve the tourism transport service. A representative for the ministry had no further comment beyond the statement.

Machu Picchu “has been severely mismanaged by various political interests,” said Stoessel, who also is the chief executive of Casa Andina, Peru’s largest hotel chain. “This is the straw that broke the camel’s back.