Will Machu Picchu lose status as one of new 7 wonders of the world?

It has been nearly two decades since Machu Picchu was declared one of the ‘new seven wonders of the world’.

However, New7Wonders, the company behind the vote, is now warning that the iconic site is in danger of losing its prestigious title.

This is due to a range of issues including overtourism, lack of conservation policies, and local conflicts.

“The designation implies a shared commitment to the conservation and responsible management of the site, as well as the implementation of international preservation and management standards,” the statement from the firm read.

But what happened? What do we know?

Let’s take a closer look.

Machu Picchu and its struggles

First, let us take a brief look at Machu Picchu. It is a 15th-century Inca ruin on a mountain ridge 7,970 feet above sea level. It is located around 80 kilometres from Peru’s Cuzco. The site came into the spotlight after Yale University professor Hiram Bingham visited it in 1911, led by a local.

Often wrongly labelled the ‘lost city of the Incas’, Machu Picchu was designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1983. It is Peru’s biggest tourist attraction by far. According to estimates, over 1.5 million people visit the site every year – around 5,000 people per day. It got the tag of one of the new seven wonders of the world after receiving over 100 million votes in a 2007 competition.

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However, the site in recent years has been struggling with a wide range of issues including overtourism. The site is being worn down by the sheer number of visitors, who leave waste behind. Locals in the area face increased costs and packed streets.

The Peruvian government is acting. The Inca trail leading up to the site now shuts for maintenance once a year. Authorities have also mandated that people buy tickets to the attraction in advance, visit in small groups of 10 people per guide, and limit the visit to a maximum of four hours.

The government has also increased bathroom facilities and waste disposal outlets. However, experts fear this isn’t enough. They say overtourism could cause permanent damage to the landmark.

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This has had a real-world impact. Travel and Tour World, a tourism platform with 10 million readers, earlier this year downgraded Machu Picchu as a tourist destination, saying it is ‘no longer worth the hassle’.

There are local conflicts too. The US Embassy in Peru just this week warned its citizens against visiting the archaeological site after nearly a thousand tourists were left stranded.

At least 900 tourists were stranded near the Inca citadel on Tuesday after the train service PeruRail was suspended on Monday because the route was blocked amid protests between local residents and authorities.

The country is also under a Level 2 travel advisory – which means travellers are warned to look out for crime, civil unrest, and the risk of kidnapping while visiting Peru.

Around 1,400 tourists were evacuated overnight from the train station, before a new blockade left more visitors stranded. Other reports have said that an additional 156 visitors were later evacuated as well.

The embassy has warned that demonstrations in Machu Picchu Pueblo are ‘expected to continue’. This latest flare-up concerns the control of the route leading up to the archaeological site. On Monday, locals blocked the train tracks leading up to the site with logs and rocks.

The protesters on Wednesday agreed to halt demonstrations for three days and allow transport services to resume.

Machu Picchu in danger of losing spot?

Maybe.

The New7Wonders foundation, a group based in Switzerland, has warned that Machu Picchu could be dropped from the list of new seven wonders if the local conflict intensifies.

The campaign group, which highlights global sites of major cultural heritage, did so in a letter to the Peruvian government.

However, the group is hoping the authorities and locals can get their act together moving forward.

‘This is premature, especially as we believe all stakeholders can and should consider this a wake-up call to get the house of Machu Picchu in order. We already have an official representative adviser in Peru itself, who is ready to support the process toward both short-term and more importantly long-term solutions,’ New7Wonders director Jean-Paul de la Fuente told CNN.

However, it is important to note that Machu Picchu’s heritage status, which was awarded to it by Unesco, is not in any danger.

Peru’s Ministry of Culture took to X to write that Unesco is ‘the only competent body to promote the identification, protection and
preservation of cultural and natural heritage’.

It added that the ‘preservation and protection’ of Machu Picchu ‘is not being violated’ and pointed out that it is on Unesco’s List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

It said that during the 47th meeting of the World Heritage Committee held in July in Paris, Unesco in fact ‘valued the improvements in visitor management and the implementation of monitoring and conservation tools for the historic sanctuary of Machu Picchu’.

With inputs from agencies