The Ministry of Culture established at 2,244 the maximum number of visitors per day for the Inka City of Machu Picchu, the tourist icon located in the province of Urubamba, Cusco region, can receive.
This is established by Ministerial Resolution N° 173-2020-MC, published today in the Legal Standards bulletin of the Official Gazette “El Peruano”.
In it, it is specified that the decision to approve this number of visitors a day to the Machu Picchu llaqta is based on the report prepared by the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Cusco, through the document “Implementation of the recommendations of the Study of capacity of load and limits of acceptable change for the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu – 2015 and results obtained: 2016-2019 ”.
The standard’s recital includes the decision of the Unesco World Heritage Committee, which urged the Peruvian State to ensure that the evaluation of the 2015 carrying capacity study focuses on the Exceptional Universal Value (OUV) of the property.
Once this study has been carried out, Unesco urged that it be respected by applying clear limits together with regulations and the differentiation of visitor flows and the promotion of alternative visiting sites outside the llaqta, and requests the State party to complete it and send it to the Center. of World Heritage for review by the advisory bodies.
It adds that in Ministerial Resolution N° 070-2017-MC of February 21, 2017, the Regulation of sustainable use and tourist visit for the conservation of the llaqta or Inka City of Machu Picchu was approved, modified by Ministerial Resolution N° 216-2018 -MC dated June 7, 2018, whose objective is to regulate the sustainable use and tourist visit to ensure the conservation of the llaqta or Inka city of Machu Picchu.
It also refers that, in accordance with the Sixth Complementary Provision of the aforementioned rule, the maximum admissibility of visits for the Machu Picchu llaqta cannot exceed that established in the study of approved load capacity and / or acceptable change limit by Directorial Resolution No. 035-2016-DDC-CUS / MC and as determined by the current Master Plan of the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, managing shifts, schedules, visitor flows, respecting the circuits and implementing adequate monitoring systems.
It also stresses that reports N° 00159-2020-DDC-CUS / MC and N° 000197-2020-DDC-CUS / MC that the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Cusco refers to the Vice Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Industries the document “Implementation of the recommendations of the Study of load capacity and limits of acceptable change for the Historic Sanctuary of Machupicchu – 2015 and results obtained: 2016-2019”, sustain that, based on the implementation of the proposed recommendations for management, conservation and Organization of the tourist flow of the Machu Picchu llaqta, it is recommended that the number of visitors that must enter will be a maximum of 2,244 visitors per day.
The norm bears the signature of the Minister of Culture, Alejandro Neyra Sánchez.
Currently, visits to the citadel of Machu Picchu are suspended.
The measure was adopted in the second half of March as a result of the declaration of the state of emergency decreed by the Government to stop the advance of the coronavirus (COVI-19) in Peru.
The resumption of visits to the Inka City will begin after the sanitary protocols for the transfer of visitors are implemented, as well as the biosafety measures that must also be implemented by guides and tour operators.
