"They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot!"

Lynda

Snip

A big part of visiting the ancient Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru is getting there: pilgrims leaving the city of Cusco either need to take a multi-day hike to the site high in the Andes mountains or ride a slow train through the Sacred Valley, absorbing the alpine landscape that remains largely unchanged since ancient times. But a controversial new way to reach the ruins may upend this; bulldozers have begun clearing land for a multi-billion-dollar international airport in Chinchero, just 20 minutes from the Sacred Valley.

Dan Collyns at The Guardian reports that locals, archaeologists and tour operators are petitioning the government to reconsider the project, which is planned to be completed by 2023.

“The airport will affect the integrity of a complex Inca landscape and will cause irreparable damage due to noise, traffic and uncontrolled urbanisation,” writes Natalia Majluf, a Peruvian art historian at Cambridge University, who is spearheading the petition.

The major concern around the Chinchero Cuzco International Airport is that the project will only add more strain to a cultural site that is already struggling to deal with growing crowds. Colleen Connolly at The Chicago Tribune reports that the Machu Picchu handles almost 6,000 people per day, more than double the 2,500-person cap recommended by the Unesco, the United Nations cultural organization. “The tourist impact is very grave,” Nelson Huaman Quispe, a guide with Machu Picchu Andes Tours, tells Connolly. “As there are a large quantity of tourists, you can't control them.” People are reportedly climbing on the structures, taking rocks as souvenirs, and leaving marks on the ancient stones.