New7Wonders director Jean-Paul de la Fuente said unplanned tourist overcrowding, high costs, irregular ticket sales and social conflicts at Machu Picchu have worsened the visitor experience and damaged Peru’s image. File Photo by Paula Bayarte/EPA
Sept. 17 (UPI) — The New7Wonders Foundation warned that Machu Picchu, South America’s most iconic tourist site, could be removed from the list of the New Seven Wonders of the World because of alleged poor management and a lack of sustainable planning.
At the same time, local protests blocked rail access to the 15th-century Inca sanctuary in the Andes Mountains, forcing the Peruvian government to evacuate more than 1,400 tourists.
In a statement, New7Wonders director Jean-Paul de la Fuente said unplanned tourist overcrowding, high costs, irregular ticket sales and social conflicts have worsened the visitor experience and damaged Peru’s image.
“The justifiable and credible permanence of Machu Picchu as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World depends on urgent action by the Peruvian state,” he said.
Although it carries significant media and tourism weight, the New7Wonders list has no official status or institutional recognition from international organizations, unlike UNESCO’s World Heritage designation.
Peru’s Ministry of Culture responded, insisting that conservation of the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu “is not being threatened” and stressed that UNESCO has not placed it on its “World Heritage in Danger” list.
In July, during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris, officials recognized progress in visitor management and the use of monitoring and conservation tools.
The sanctuary, a World Heritage Site since 1983, receives about 4,500 visitors a day and is Peru’s most visited archaeological site.
Still, the Peruvian Institute of Economics reported that between 2020 and 2024, Machu Picchu received about 5 million fewer visitors than expected based on pre-pandemic trends, equal to 25% fewer tourists than expected.
In 2024, Cusco, which is about 50 miles from Machu Picchu recorded 3.4 million visitors, still below pre-pandemic levels. Machu Picchu saw 76,000 fewer tourists last year than in 2019.
The Institute of Economics said the decline is partly due to a lack of sustained investment in infrastructure, connectivity and tourism promotion, which has hurt job creation in the Cusco region. Between 2019 and 2024, the region lost one-third of the jobs generated directly and indirectly by tourism, equal to about 33,000 positions.
Meanwhile, the social crisis in Cusco highlighted those tensions. On Monday, protesters blocked the railway line to Machu Picchu, shutting down the main access to the archaeological site. Rail operators suspended service for safety, leaving thousands of travelers, most of them foreigners, stranded at Peru’s sacred mountain.
Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Desilú León said police cleared the tracks around midnight, allowing about 1,400 tourists to be evacuated, though another 900 remained stranded after new attacks on the line.
“We coordinated the transfer of passengers who were on the site,” she said.
The protest was organized by a local group demanding the replacement of the company that has managed the bus service to the site for three decades.
Cusco’s Office of Foreign Trade and Tourism said the unrest has caused cancellation of about 15% of tour packages, which could mean losses of nearly $80 million by the end of the year.