Machu Picchu hit by a row over tourist buses

Machu Picchu, the ruins of a 15th-century Inca city, is Peru’s most popular tourist destination and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, an ongoing dispute over buses transporting visitors to the mountaintop site recently led to the evacuation of about 1,400 stranded tourists.

Cristian Alberto Caballero Chacón is chief operating officer of bus company Conceitor, which for the past 30 years has transported about 4,500 people a day to Machu Picchu from the local town of Aguas Calientes.

The journey takes 20 minutes, and the only alternative is a steep, arduous two-hour walk.

He admits that in the past few months “there have been some conflicts between people from different communities here.”

This conflict revolves around Consettur losing its license to a rival bus company in this remote part of Peru, where, unless you want to hike up the Andes, the only access is by public transport.

To get to Machu Picchu without walking, tourists must first take the train to Aguas Calientes, which takes two to three and a half hours. Then move to the bus for the final stage.

Last September, local protesters, angry that Conceitor had been replaced following what they saw as an insufficiently open bidding process, blocked the railway line to Aguas Calientes with rocks.

This resulted in Peruvian authorities having to clear the tracks and evacuate tourists on special train services.

A number of local residents, who did not want to be named, say the protesters were dissatisfied with Consettur’s monopoly on the lucrative bus service, and that its position as sole provider was simply to be transferred to a new company, San Antonio de Toronto. A round-trip bus ticket costs $24 (£18) for a foreigner and $15 for a Peruvian.

Although Conceitor’s license expired in September, it continues to operate its buses. Due to legal challenges, San Antonio de Torunui has not yet begun.

It’s a complex situation, involving people from different communities who want a slice of the bus’s income, but Caballero insists Consettur is not a monopoly.

“The owners have been running the company for the last 30 years, and they are people who come from here,” he says. “This is not a monopoly. Consettur consists of 12 different companies with different partners.”

These partners include the local district council, which owns 38% of Consettur.

Meanwhile, San Antonio de Torontoy is based a little further away in the wider Urubamba province.

As the controversy and legal dispute over buses continues, Australian tourist Annalize Jaksic complains about the cost of trains to Aguas Calientes. The cheapest round-trip ticket is $140, rising to $2,000 for luxury first class.

“We thought it was one train,” she said, speaking in Aguas Calientes [all the way to Machu Picchu]. “We thought if there were more means of transportation to get up there, it would all be included, because you pay a lot of money for the train.”

Her friend and travel companion, Todd Carland, adds that purchasing tickets to the site “was a nightmare for us.” He says it was difficult to arrange because they didn’t do it with an expensive guided tour. The standard price for adults at Machu Picchu is $57.

Elvis La Torre, mayor of Aguas Calientes, has also expressed his dissatisfaction with the tickets, because he says most of the revenues do not stay local.

“Only 10% of ticket sales stay in the area. The rest of the money goes to the Ministry of Culture to take care of other archaeological sites throughout Peru and pay wages.”

He wants more money to go to his community and surrounding area to help improve tourism and fund more projects to help local people. The Ministry of Culture was asked to comment.

Outside, on a side street filled with stalls offering tourist souvenirs, like fluffy alpacas and scarves, Dina Huelka sits on the sidewalk selling roses, tomatoes and mint. She travels from her village to get here, and says “more needs to be done for the local communities.”

She adds: “We do not have basic services such as running water or a hospital, and schools need to be in better condition.”

Carlos Gonzalez is the president of the Tourism Chamber of this region of Peru, Cusco Province. He has an ambitious desire to see state control of all public transportation in Peru.

“We are pushing to update the law so that the Ministry of Tourism agency can take care of all the travel resources in our country,” he says. “If we don’t have a unified approach to Peru as a destination, we won’t be able to compete in the long term.”

He also wants to change tourists’ experiences at Machu Picchu, with more entrances and separate areas where different types of visitors can gather.

“[Such as] “Spiritual travelers go and do meditative rituals in one area. And let’s not forget the younger audience who are more inclined to do Tik Toks and their Instagram stories. They also need a place to do that and enjoy themselves in a youthful way,” says Mr. Gonzalez.

But he says Peru’s unstable national governments make change difficult. The country has had six different presidents in the past six years.

“I have been a tourism sector leader for five years now, and I have lost count of the number of ministers, deputy ministers and members of Congress I have spoken to.”

Back in Aguas Calientes, Mr. Caballero says he would be happy to see both Conceitor and San Antonio de Toronto running buses to and from Machu Picchu.

He added, “If they get final approval, we will have no problem working with them. We will not stop them.”