Since January 20, 2024, the sale of tickets to Machu Picchu to private hands. A unilateral measure taken by the current Minister of Culture, who has serious complaints of corruption in her administration.
Photo taken from the Urban area
Summary
Why have they privatized Machu Picchu?
Since the historic sanctuary of Machu Picchu began to receive tourists more than 100 years ago, it has always suffered from severe cases of corruption due to the sale of entrance tickets to the Inca citadel irregularly and for the enrichment of certain officials.
In 2023, around 47,000 people entered Machu Picchu without having officially purchased their tickets to the Inca citadel, this represents about 7 million soles in money, which are obviously distributed among all those involved in the corruption of entry tickets to Machu. Picchu.
The Minister of Culture Leslie Urteaga, upon learning of this situation, decided unilaterally to grant the sale of tickets to Machu Picchu to private hands. In this case, the company managing the tickets to Machu Picchu will be JOINNUS, a company that will charge a commission of 3.9% for each ticket sold, representing about 10 million in economic income for the private company.
However, this measure will not change the existing corruption in any way, because the officials who administer and control Machu Picchu continue in their positions and will continue to sell income to Machu Picchu irregularly as they always did.
The only thing the privatization of Machu Picchu ticket sales means is increasing corruption, because the minister, to sign the agreement to the private company, clearly received an envelope with a few million; In addition to this, the logistical cost of promotion and maintenance of the world wonder Machu Picchu is only 3 million soles, what sense does it make for a private company to sell tickets and whose commission is 3 times more than the same cost of preserving the world wonder.
Is Machu Picchu to private hands positive or negative for small businesses?
The fact that Machu Picchu is in private hands is disastrous for small local businesses such as travel agencies of Cusco businessmen, who do not have the necessary capital to compete with multinationals that will have exclusive agreements with a private company that will sell tickets to Machu Picchu.
As a second point, the private company that sells tickets to Machu Picchu also sells tours, the sustainability of small agencies will affect it.
Leave A Reply