Nearly 700 tourists were evacuated from Machu Picchu on Saturday following a strike by residents against what they denounce as the
"privatization"
of the sale of entry tickets to the most visited Inca site in the world, said the Peruvian government.
“More than 660 tourists left, national and foreign
,” an official from the Ministry of Tourism, who requested anonymity, told AFP.
The visitors arrived around 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. French time) by train at the town of Ollantaytambo, some 32 kilometers from Machu Picchu.
Opponents launched an
“unlimited”
strike movement on Thursday to denounce a decision by the Ministry of Culture to use a private intermediary to manage online ticket sales.
A local collective says the company, Joinnus, could benefit from up to $3.2 million a year in commissions thanks to the new system.
“We are against the systematic privatization of Machu Picchu.
The organizations demand the cancellation of the contract with Joinnus
,” Darwin Baca, former mayor of the Machu Picchu district, told AFP.
Preserve the citadel
Many businesses have lowered their curtains since Thursday and the railway operator Ferrocarril Transandino suspended its service to the site on Friday due to the demonstrations.
The Ministry of Culture affirms that the new sales system should make it possible to control the flow of tourists and preserve the citadel, classified as a World Heritage Site since 1983.
“There is a risk that Machu Picchu will be removed from the list”
, due to an
“excess of visitors”
which could lead to its deterioration, said Ana Pena, an advisor to the Ministry of Culture, on Thursday.
In September, Peru temporarily closed three sectors of Machu Picchu due to the impact of the number of tourists at the site, which welcomes an average of 4,500 visitors per day.
Also read Machu Picchu on foot: four days of hiking (almost) alone in the world on the Inca Trail
The archaeological complex, located 130 kilometers from the city of Cusco and 2438 meters above sea level, was built in the 15th century by order of the Inca emperor Pachacutec (1438-1470) and discovered in 1911 by the American explorer Hiram Bingham.