Tourist Popularity Of Machu Picchu And Its Effects On Nearby Communities

Some background information about Machu Picchu is that it is located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru, there are lots of archeologists that believe that Machu Picchu was an estate for Pachacuti who was the Inca emperor at the time.

It is the most familiar icon of Inca civilization, in 1450 the Incas built Machu Picchu around but a century later it was abandoned around the time of the Spanish conquest. Something interesting about the estate was that it was not known to them during the colonial period and remained unknown to the outside world until Hiram Bingham was an American scholar who “discovered” Machu Picchu and shared his findings with his academic community.

Some facts about Machu Picchu is that many of the stones were used to build the city were more than 60 pounds, it was also believed that there were no wheels to transport the rocks up the mountain. They do think they had hundreds of men pushing the heavy rocks up the steep of the mountain, most cities built by the Inca civilization were destroyed by the Spanish conquest. Machu Picchu was in a hidden location invisible from below and not found, making it one of the most well-preserved Inca cities and an archeological gem

Talking more about Hiram Bingham, he only came across what is called the “lost city” because there was a local boy who showed him their village. There were lots of investigations about Machu Picchu, After the investigations Bingham did take thousands of objects back to the U.S. and decided that they were going to be displayed at Yale Peabody Museum. Because of Bingham, it did become an increasingly popular destination for academics and travelersall over the U.S., the Peruvian government finally recognized Machu Picchu as a historical sanctuary in 1981. Also, it was recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983. There are about hundreds of luxury hotel yards away from the site itself.

Starting in the 1980s about 100,00 people have come to visit Machu Picchu, but that number has gone up to the million as of 2017, it has said that 1.5 million of tourist come to visit Machu Picchu each year. Since Machu Picchu been on the tourist site for many years we do have people who come to visit Machu Picchu and do some the most grosses/rudest stuff, for example people will take the stone from the walls, get fully naked and walk around, poop on the floor and pee on the wall, graffiti the walls, throwing their garbage everywhere, and started to build an airport right by the estate.

There have been about 10 people who have been detained for being naked at Machu Picchu in the article the Peruvian officials are not amused with people being naked at the estate. “Ministry of Culture has said the spectacle of nude visitors at Machu Picchu as being “disrespectful' and 'unfortunate” events that threaten their heritage cultural. “There are places in the world that people can get naked, but not all places are (appropriate) for getting undressed,' by Alfredo Mormontoy Atayupanqui, who is a director of archaeological resources for Peru's Ministry of Culture, because people have been getting naked, they now have park rules on the back of admission tickets warn visitors against being nude in public.

Another thing that people will do at Machu Picchu is vandalizing the walls. Peruvian police said they caught 6 tourists vandalizing the Incan sanctuary. “Authorities said four men and two women from Chile, Brazil, France, and Argentina were arrested Sunday after they were found by park rangers in a restricted area of the Temple of the Sun.” five of the tourists were deported back to their hometown when one of them stayed to face charged for vandalizing Machu Picchu.

The popularity of Machu Picchu has resulted in a waste crisis in the area, especially in the town of Aguas Calientes, “the gateway to the citadel,” The visitors often leave their waste behind, this includes many plastic water bottles, which end up in the local river. The local authorities struggled to manage the garbage effectively because there are no roads to the site and all the waste must be taken away by railroads.

The problem has become so bad that two years ago, UNESCO threatened to strip Machu Picchu of its status as a World Heritage site. There are now real fears that it could lose this prestigious status, and because of this, it would be an embarrassment for the Peruvians. The rare flora and fauna in the district have been harmed by the garbage left behind by tourists, local municipal authorities are urging tourists to bring their recyclable water bottles and to take them away with them, after their visit to Machu Picchu

A new multi-billion-dollar international airport is being built right next to Machu Picchu, with this new airport it will allow direct flights from different major cities from Latin American to the United States, this will then delivered tourists to the doorsteps to the estate. The Problem with this is that the airport is being built in Chinchero, which is the gateway of the town to the Scared Valley, from the Inca. Building the airport in Chinchero will destroy the ancient landscape, shaped by the Incan people with terraces and routes, people also living there say that if the planes are flying too low over nearby would cause incalculable damage to the ruins and destroy the peace and beauty of Machu Picchu.

Because of what the tourist has been doing to the estate locals are trying to get the tourist levels to drop, so they are giving people two options for the tickets, either they have the morning (6 am -midday) or the afternoon (midday-5.30pm) ticket, and anyone wanting to linger on the site for longer they will need to buy a ticket for both time-segments even if they do not want it. For the airport situation, they have local trying to have a petition and have asked the

Peruvian president, to reconsider or relocate the airport from Chinchero. So, Machu Picchu will not be destroyed from the airport. The locals are trying to protect their heritage and the environment. As a result, a private initiative was started that began to recycle the countless plastic water bottles left by visitors. Local are also trying to urge tourists to bring their own recyclable water bottles and to take them away with them, after visiting Machu Picchu. They are also going to start adding water dispenser stations all around Aguas Calientes. When they have it installed this would reduce the number of plastic bottles being left in the town, which is one of the main causes of the crisis. They are also working with private groups and businesses to deal with the Machu Picchu trash crisis. This includes persuading local hotels and other businesses to adopt a no plastic policy, for example, using only recyclable bags.

Overall, Machu Picchu is a beautiful place to visit because it has a lot of culture and interesting facts, but because of the tourists being so disrespectful they have to start making rules for the tourists even though the tourist are not listening and the locals are thinking of closing Machu Picchu because it is getting so damaged from the tourist not listing.