Machu Picchu 1st15 reopens in April: 30 12/03/2010, Kraig Becker, adventure travel, adventure, travel, adventuretravel, Cusco, Machu Picchu Machu Picc

Machu Picchu 1st15 reopens in April: 30 12/03/2010, Kraig Becker, adventure travel, adventure, travel, adventuretravel, Cusco, Machu Picchu Machu Picchu, machupiccu, tourism, supercar
Filed under: Art and Culture, South America, Peru

The Peruvian Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Martin Perez, has announced that the popular tourist destination of Machu Picchu will reopen to visitors from April 1, marking a return to normalcy for the 15 century Inca fortress, which is the focal point of the travel industry of Peru.

The World Heritage site by UNESCO has been closed for almost two months after torrential rains caused severe flooding in January. These floods caused the train to Machu Picchu famous for washing, stranding thousands of tourists who visit the site for several days. Since then, teams have been working hard to restore access, elimination of large landslides on the slopes, and reconstruction of sections that were completely destroyed.

With over 800,000 visitors a year, Machu Picchu is easily the most famous tourist destination in Peru. An estimated 400 million dollars have been lost due to the closure of the site, and more than 15,000 Peruvians earn their living either directly or indirectly, from Machu Picchu, the impact on Peru's economy has been less than catastrophic. The news of the reopening offers a glimmer of hope to workers.

The over-emphasis of Machu Picchu by the tourism industry in Peru has become a concern among officials there. In the past two months, the new plans have been room to promote some of the other archaeological sites in the area, including Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, among others. Tourism Experts hope that by encouraging travelers to visit these places otherwise, will take some of the focus of Machu Picchu, and the diversity of the industry to a degree.

Whether or not you convince travelers to visit these sites to be seen. But one thing is certain, both visitors and locals will be happy to see Machu Picchu, an increasingly open.
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Machu Picchu reopens April 1 originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, March 12, 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms of use of feed.

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