LIMA - The ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, a jewel of Peruvian tourism, will sharply reduce the number of daily visitors once it reopens from a virus-imposed closure in July, officials said.
Airports in Peru remain closed for now and many shops are shuttered. But despite some of Latin America's earliest and most stringent measures, the country has logged the second-highest number of cases in the region, at 225,000, along with some 6,500 deaths. Peruvian tourists will be able to fly again sometime in July or August, but with no decision on the reopening of borders, it remains unclear when foreign tourists will be returning.
The pandemic has caused a collapse of Peru's tourism industry. In the city of Cusco, the ancient Incan capital 70 kilometres from Machu Picchu, tourism employs 100,000 people.