Peru: protest shuts down Machu Picchu tourism for two days, Peru Reports, Colin Post, 11/17/2016

Peru: protest shuts down Machu Picchu tourism for two days, Peru Reports, Colin Post, 11/17/2016

·         Hundreds of residents from a village below Machu Picchu blocked a key railroad which prevented tourists from visiting the Inca Ruins

·         The Machu Picchu district AKA Aguas Caliantes is in the southern state of Cusco’s Urubamba province

·         Size: 8,000 people

·         Economy driven by 3,000 visitors daily, many from the state capital of Cusco

·         Majority of tourists use train, some use bus or hike

·         Machu Picchu is Peru’s top tourist destination

·         Inca citadel, 1,000,000 visitors in 2013

·         1,200,000 visitors to citadel in 2015

·         ¾ of visitors are foreign tourists

Demands

·         Protestors want the railway company to reserve two passenger cars for Machu Picchu residents

·         2 for Urubamba, Anta, and La Convencio provinces

·         2 for Peruvian nationals

·         For the company to stop selling lunches and souvenirs on trains

·         Drop plans for $38,000,000 museum outside Machu Picchu

·         TO allow tour guides to sell entrance tickets to Machu Picchu

Previous protest

·         Labor shut down trains to stop private companies from restoring and operating archaeological sites

·         Peru to host the 28^th APEC World Leaders Summit

Previous incident

·         Fire killed 4 people at the Larcomar mall in Lima