Peru’s post-pandemic recovery will take longer than expected because of the violent political protests that started in December. As the protests continue, the country’s competitiveness as a tourist destination is at risk if the political situation isn’t resolved and images of unrest and chaos stay in the international spotlight.
The year 2023 has started badly in Peru. Up to 60% of bookings for the first part of the year have been cancelled since the protests began in December, according to Reuters. Train service to Machu Picchu, the country’s top tourist attraction, has been shut down several times due to protests. On January 4, thousands of demonstrators marched to Lima, the capital of Peru.
The South American country has been grappling with a destructive political crisis. On December 7, left-wing President Pedro Castillo was impeached and arrested after he attempted to dissolve the country’s national legislative body and set up an emergency government. Castillo’s vice president, Dina Boluarte, was sworn in as the new president on the same day.
The following week, large-scale violent protests against Castillo’s impeachment broke out across the country, with protesters having no easy time in new general elections, Boluarte’s resignation, Castillo’s release, or the dissolution of Congress. Protesters blocked transport networks and organized attacks on police stations and courts. , factories and airports, according to the New York Times. The protests left 28 dead and more than six hundred injured, according to Infobae, which provides data focused on Latin America.
On December 14, the defense minister declared a nationwide state of emergency for 30 days, limiting some civil liberties like the right to assemble. Despite the declaration, protests continued to block roads, bridges and railways in many parts of the country. Five airports had to be temporarily closed due to the protestors.
The protests have disrupted daily life and the tourism sector, said Eduardo Nycander, founder of Rainforest Expeditions, which has been hosting tours and lodging in Peru for more than 30 years. The disruptions caused around 1. 8 million people across the country to disrupt their activities, operations or tourism plans, according to Peru’s National Chamber of Tourism.
A vlogger posted a viral video on TikTok on December 18 of his vacation in Peru. His video has been viewed more than 11 million times.
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The United States, one of Peru’s most sensible inbound markets, has pleaded with its citizens to reconsider traveling to the country because of crime and to exercise greater caution because of civil unrest.
Unrest is hitting Peru as its tourism sector tries to recover from the pandemic. The number of foreign arrivals in the country fell from 5. 3 million in 2019 to 1. 1 million in 2020, according to the World Bank. Spending on international tourism increased from $1. 5 billion in 2019 to $938 million in 2020.
The pandemic especially devastated small tourism businesses, many of which didn’t qualify for government subsidies, according to Nycander. “The small ones died forever,” he said. “They couldn’t support two years of Covid.”
Adding more pain to the industry, protesters have targeted tourist hotspots to win international attention and undermine the government. One incident that made international headlines was the stranding of 300 American, European and Peruvian visitors at a town near Machu Picchu, Peru’s most popular tourist attraction, on December 16 after protests caused the closure of the local train line and roads. The tourists were evacuated by the government a few days later.
“Something like that can be very painful for tourism. That act was especially against tourism because tourism involves foreigners and was the way to attract attention,” said Nycander. Global news outlets BBC, CNN, The Guardian, NBC News, USA Today and Fox News covered the Machu Picchu situation, keeping it in the minds of millions of people.
The Machu Picchu incident has made would-be tourists nervous enough to cancel their reservations. Some canceled because their itinerary would be ruined without the attraction. “Anything similar to ‘My Machu Picchu Experience’ is smart for business because almost everyone will come with Machu Picchu on their itinerary,” said Kelly Torrens, vice president of product for Kensington Tours.
The December protests cost Peru an estimated $450 million of tourism income, said National Chamber of Tourism of Peru Executive Director Tito Alegría on Radio Programas del Perú.
Large-scale civil disobedience is not new in Peru, but what made this recent wave even more shocking was the violence and the resulting media attention, according to Torrens. “Peru, as a country, reports every year many movements and disturbances that do not appear in the headlines,” he said.
While the violence has dissipated but the civil unrest and the media attention has not. Heading into 2023, the worry is that the images of Peru’s civil unrest will stay in the international media spotlight, said Torrens. The protesters could very well repeat another incident like they did with Machu Picchu to get attention.Peru’s tourism officials told Reuters they will work with tour operators to restore tourist interest.
Tags: latin america, south america, covid-19, machu picchu, peru, coronavirus recovery
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