to prioritize purchasing tickets in advance through the designated website and to avoid the services offered by informal companies.
The government official noted that the issue of access to Machu Picchu is one that her sector has been coordinating to improve procedures.
"The Ministry of Culture is making every effort to ensure that access to the Llaqta and to Machu Picchu in general is a pleasant experience —a beautiful experience, as we all hope— given that it is one of our main tourist attractions," she noted.
However, the Cabinet member said it must be kept in mind that tourist destinations as important as Machu Picchu —a World Cultural Heritage site— must be cared for, and one of the aspects that must be respected is capacity limits.
"At this time, some measures have been taken to address the issue of the large influx of tourists wishing to visit Machu Picchu," Minister Leon said.
"When anyone travels abroad and wants to visit a tourist attraction in another country, they must first verify whether they have a ticket for that place. If I do not have a ticket for that attraction, unfortunately, during my visit to that country if it is already on a scheduled date— I would not be able to do so," Leon explained.
"Likewise, tourists who come here have the possibility of purchasing their tickets through the website, which are the ones available; in normal season it is around 4,650 of which 1,000 tickets were made available some time ago, not during this period, to be sold in person in Machu Picchu," she detailed.
The government official also pointed out that if a ticket cannot be purchased online for the desired date, there is the option of buying it in person.
Enhancements
The minister mentioned that among the enhancements implemented by the Ministry of Culture is the elimination of the need to stand in line for a ticket which, the following day, would be exchanged for an entry pass to Machu Picchu.
"The pre-ticket system has been eliminated so that people can go directly, and a system to increase the number of ticket windows has been implemented; there are now five windows instead of two, as well as a virtual queue system that shows how many tickets are left, so that people do not stand in line unnecessarily," the government official noted.
"Unfortunately, there have been days —according to what the Ministry of Culture has informed us— when, despite being told that there were no more tickets available for sale that day, people would stay in line because the 1,000 tickets were made available the following day, as these are the 1,000 tickets allocated per day," Leon explained.
"So, in an effort to serve the people who were in line and prevent them from waiting longer when there were no tickets left, in some cases advance sales were enabled so they could purchase tickets for the following day," she added.
The government official made this statement at a press conference on Wednesday, following the Council of Ministers session held at the Government Palace, where she outlined the results of the presidential visits to Japan and Indonesia.