Sustainability has been a bit of a buzzword in the recent decade. In tandem with worldwide environmental movements, it has become important to all types of industries — tourism being one of them.
As international tourism has come under increasing scrutiny for its worst attributes — dehumanization, destruction, disregard, to name a few — sustainability in reality or as a facade, business practice or buzzword has found itself an important part of the conversation around tourism development.
But arguably, nowhere is this principle more important than in the country of Peru, home to Machu Picchu, Wonder of the World.
When Ruben Huaman Quispe began working in the tourism industry around Machu Picchu, 10 years ago, tourists could roam the site, they could buy a ticket for a day and search for what they wanted from the Incas’ Lost City. That was when barely more than 2,000 to 3,000 tourists visited Machu Picchu per day. Today more than 5,000 tourists visit Machu Picchu daily, and the site has responded accordingly.
Tickets are now bought in advance, tourists must reserve certain circuits and certain times, there is a five-star hotel located next to the grounds, and most importantly the site is under far more daily repairs.
Yet, even with the rise in paying tourists, little of the money made in Machu Picchu makes its way to the local communities. While the government manages the site and its finances, the real money goes to foreign tourism agencies. And as Machu Picchu continues to grow and expand, little regard for the sustainability of its scale or benefit to the local community.
Instead, Machu Picchu makes do with inconsistent visitor caps, constantly changing rules and compelling generations of families to move off their land (for little compensation) to make space for tourist towns, airports and train tracks.
With greater concern for economic gain, the sustainability of Machu Picchu, socially and ecologically is too often neglected. The archaeological site, once admired for its sustainability and longevity, is in a state of struggling today.
So that brings up the question: How can tourism be done better, at Machu Picchu?
Is the answer ecotourism?
Also known as off-the-beaten-path tourism, sustainable tourism, environmental tourism and many other names, ecotourism prioritizes, of course, environmental retention but also significant local benefits.
Ecotourism attempts to shift the mass tourism mindset into one interested in learning and connecting with a country and its inhabitants. It tries to change the world’s idea of tourism, and in doing so, inspires the common person who takes from the land to utilize it instead for tourism.
As ecotourism professor Joe Pavelka, who teaches at Mount Royal University in Calgary, describes it: ecotourism incentivizes the logger to utilize his land for tourism rather than cut off his trees for a quick buck.
But can ecotourism be the answer for Machu Picchu when the very existence of people and their enterprises on this particular land contributes to its deterioration? And when mass tourism is Machu Picchu’s way of life? When Machu Picchu tourism fuels Cusco’s economy? When, no matter why people visit Peru, they still want to see Machu Picchu?
Maybe not entirely.
“There’s so much money made in the tourism industry, but it never really gets to the places that it should, to help develop these communities.”
Samantha Hickman
At its core ecotourism is a preventive measure that facilitates ecological conservation and social improvement through economic incentives, but this model is not inherently to the benefit of the environment or the people. Ecotourism can encourage preservation, but tourism, and especially over-tourism, will always have its impacts.
So maybe it’s best to consider scale as well as benefit, plus one more — regeneration.
Ecotourism only works when scale and manageability for the land and the people are taken into account. But it can only preserve the environment when tourism, unfortunately, often must develop and expand. It is then better to consider, on top of scale and manageability, how we can replenish what we have taken or exerted on the land and community.
From a social perspective, this is the philosophy of Raices Andinas, the tourism arm of the Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development. The profits of their tourism ventures cyclically contribute to the local development arm of their agency.
“It’s trying to use tourism in a way to redirect these profits back into the communities that deserve it,” says Samantha Hickman, the Director of Experiences. “There’s so much money made in the tourism industry, but it never really gets to the places that it should, to help develop these communities.”
Tourism is always dealing with many stakeholders, many conflicting. The problems Machu Picchu faces today are composed of conflicts between many needs and impacts — economic, social, ecological to name a few.
But it is not sustainable regarding the environment or social landscape of Peru for Machu Picchu tourism to be merely exploitative — the same can be said for many of the tourism hotspots surrounding Machu Picchu.
While Machu Picchu is getting by with visitor caps and ever-expanding commercialization, it can’t do so forever.