Depending on your point of view, Peru is either reducing the staggering load of visitors to famed Machu Picchu by offering an alternate destination, or it’s adding to the problem by attracting even more visitors to the area where 1.2 million arrived last year.
Choquequirao, less than 40 miles from Machu Picchu and sometimes called its ‘sacred sister’ is to get a new road and cable car from Machu Picchu, allowing visitors to reach it in minutes rather than via a 5-day hike through difficult terrain.
The $80 million investment is part of a plan by Pres. Pedro Pablo Kuxzynski to double Peru’s annual visitors to seven million by 2021. Plans are also in development for similar access to Kuelap, another Inca city further away.
But visitor pressure on Machu Picchu itself has been an issue in recent years as heavy visiting has resulted in some deterioration, and in new restrictions on climbing within the site, and how long a visitor can stay. Advance registration is now required. In theory, opening other sites should relieve some of that pressure, but for Choquequiraro, funneling visitors through Machu Picchu may have the opposite effect.
Photo: Martin St-Amant/Wikipedia
