Held Bookings Blocked Access to Machu Picchu for Visitors
Peru's Ministry of Culture cancels pending bookings to release tickets.
Translated by Qiyas from الأنباء — Original source
Obtaining a ticket to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in the Andes has sometimes resembled chasing a sold-out concert ticket.
A government audit then revealed part of the reason: of the 209,051 bookings made by eight travel agencies, 131,626 were later canceled, representing about 62.9%.
Consequently, Peru’s Minister of Culture announced the cancellation of pre-bookings on the official ticketing platform, “Tuputo,” and began testing the new system on September 22.
Previously, buyers could freeze a ticket for three hours without payment; now they have only 15 minutes to complete the purchase, after which the ticket is issued in their name and linked to their identity.
The results were swift. According to the Ministry of Culture, releasing the frozen bookings made approximately 2,000 tickets available for October, 21,000 for November, and 56,000 for December.
However, the ministry stresses that the number of visitors has not changed: the cap remains at 5,600 visitors per day during the peak season and 4,500 during the low season.
A thousand tickets continue to be sold daily directly in the town of Machu Picchu below the site, and they sold out for three consecutive days in mid-October.
