Peru’s government reopened Machu Picchu this week after seven months of closure because of the pandemic.
The Incan citadel is the country’s biggest tourist attraction, nestled in the mountains near Cusco, and its shuttering has hampered the local economy.
The Peruvian government said it would reopen the ruins at 30 percent capacity with biosecurity protocols, dropping admissions from thousands of people daily to 675.
Pol Arahuallpa, 28, has been a guide at the UNESCO World Heritage Site for five years. He said lockdown sent him and colleagues reeling, and that minimal government aid left them without income.
“In Cusco, a big part of the population lives directly or indirectly off of tourism,” he said. “So at the beginning of the pandemic, many of us had to go find different kinds of work.”
“We had no other option than to invent another kind of income,” he added. “I have a lot of colleagues who have to work as security guards, sell things in the streets.”
Peru has recorded more than 900,000 cases of the coronavirus and nearly 35,000 deaths, though daily reported cases have significantly dropped from spikes this summer.
Peru’s culture minister, Alejandro Neyra, said in a statement that the reopening was a sign that “our culture is still alive among Peruvians.”
In 2018, the ruins drew more than 1.5 million visitors from around the world.
But Mr. Arahuallpa said that because of decreased international travel, he does not think the reopening will make a significant economic dent for workers like himself.
“The most convenient thing would be to have international visitors,” he said, “but with the pandemic, we’re still not prepared for that.”
— Megan Janetsky The New York Times