Take a look at almost any travel bucket list and Machu Picchu is likely to feature prominently.
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But visiting Peru’s famed 15th-century Inca citadel is becoming increasingly challenging, with tourists facing overcrowding, long queues and unreliable transport services.
Now, a global heritage foundation that works to improve conditions at famous archaeological sites has offered to work with Peruvian authorities on the iconic site.
The announcement by the New7Wonders foundation comes months after it warned last September that a designation of one of the New Seven Wonders of the World – given to Machu Picchu in 2007 – was at risk because of numerous problems visitors face at the site.
Jean Paul De la Fuente, the foundation's director, said he had seen “no progress” at the archaeological site since last year’s warning, attributing it to Peru’s “political paralysis”.
De la Fuente, who has been in Peru for talks with tourism officials, added that he was willing to meet with the next Peruvian administration to “explore solutions” to the poor services at the site.
There was no immediate response from the authorities. Peru will hold a presidential runoff on 7 June to decide on its next president – the ninth in a decade. The race pits Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of a former president who was jailed for human rights abuses, against Roberto Sanchez, a former commerce minister who has promised to make major reforms to the nation’s mining sector. Whoever wins will appoint the next government.
“People travel to Machu Picchu thinking that they will visit a marvel of the world,” De la Fuente told AP. “But for many that dream is turning into a nightmare.”
Machu Picchu was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. In 2007, the site was one of the winners of an online poll conducted by the New7Wonders foundation, in which tourists picked the seven wonders of the modern world.
De la Fuente said that tourism to the site has grown rapidly since then, but added that authorities in Peru have not made appropriate adjustments.
He stressed that he is not currently considering stripping Machu Picchu of its wonder of the world designation but would like to see the government consider a plan by his foundation for improvements.
“We hope to be able to work with a new leadership once it’s in place, to find a positive outcome for Machu Picchu,” De la Fuente said.
“Going from a negative situation to making sure that Machu Picchu can be an example that many of the other wonders of the world can look up to.”