A hugely popular tourist destination that introduced limits on visitors is still raking in a fortune in ticket sales, with more than £4million snapped up in just a week.
Peru‘s Ministry of Culture announced that between January 13 and 20, 150,037 tickets were sold to enter the country’s iconic archaeological site Machu Picchu, in the Urubamba province of the country’s Cusco region.
The department said the staggering sales generated 20,188,320.02 soles (currently around £4,379,930).
These tickets are for visits scheduled between February and July 2025, advance ticket sales for August to December 2025 opened up to the public on January 21, as reported by Infobae.com.
The huge sums generated come despite the Ministry putting a cap on tourists, which it said aimed to manage the number of visitors and protect the archaeological site, thought to date back to 1420.
A maximum capacity of 5,600 daily visitors is enforced for the Incan city during periods of high demand this year.
This decision, based on the visitor management protocol approved by a ministerial resolution, seeks to ensure the protection of the celebrated World Heritage site.
High demand dates include January 1, April 17 to 20, June 19 to November 2, December 30 to 31.
Outside of these dates, in regular season, the daily visitor limit will continue to be 4,500, which authorities say helps limit the deterioration of the site.
Tourists are generally allowed to explore the site for up to four hours under tight rules to prevent damage.
One issue that the limiting of numbers seeks to alleviate is trail erosion due to excessive footfall in the area.
Machu Picchu, which was discovered in 1911, is generally busiest during the peak season of July and August.
But it’s not the only historic site that’s struggling to manage the relationship between tourism and overcrowding.
Greece recently introduced a cap on the number of people who can visit the Acropolis and will now allow just 20,000 visitors per day.
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