A new super international airport in Chinchero, Peru, to serve the Sacred Valley of the Incas and facilitate access to Machu Picchu. It will soon be a reality and, at the same time, one of the most controversial infrastructure projects of recent years in the South American country. And the reason is easy to say.
Presented by the Government as a driver of economic and tourism development, it is instead perceived (as it obviously is) by local communities, archaeologists and environmentalists as a concrete threat to a fragile territory from a cultural, landscape and environmental point of view. And rightly so, considering that the iconic Inca citadel is already prey to rather uncontrolled tourism.
According to estimates, the project involves the construction of a terminal of approximately 40 thousand square meters and a 4 kilometer long runway, sized to accommodate large aircraft and direct routes from North America and Europe. In the phases of full expansion, the airport could handle over eight million passengers a year.
The authorities are eager to highlight the economic impact above all: thousands of jobs generated by the construction site, expected benefits for more than a million people in the south of the country and a strong boost to the tourism, transport, hospitality and restaurant sectors.
The declared objective is to drastically reduce travel times to Machu Picchu, which today can only be reached via a long and complex route: flight to Lima, internal connection to Cusco, then train or bus to Aguas Calientes and finally the climb to the citadel. An itinerary which for some travelers represents an integral part of the experience, but which for many others constitutes a logistical obstacle. Making access easier would inevitably mean increasing tourist flows.
And the numbers are already high today: in 2024 Machu Picchu exceeded one and a half million visitors, with daily limits introduced precisely to contain overcrowding. With the new airport, estimates speak of a possible increase of up to 200 percent in the area.
One step away from overtourism
This is where the deepest critical issues emerge. The Sacred Valley is not an empty space ready to be urbanized, but a historical landscape shaped over the centuries by pre-Columbian civilizations: agricultural terraces, irrigation systems, ritual paths, archaeological sites still in use. The construction of the airport involves excavations, soil transformations and the possible irreversible destruction of cultural elements that are not always fully documented. Even air traffic cannot fail to cause concern: low-altitude overflights could compromise the integrity of nearby archaeological complexes, which are already extremely fragile.
Alongside cultural heritage there is the environmental issue. The Chinchero area experiences delicate water balances and increasing pressure on natural resources. One of the main fears concerns Lake Piuray, on which a significant part of Cusco’s water supply depends. The increase in water consumption linked to the airport, tourist infrastructure and urban expansion could worsen an already critical situation.
Added to all this are the air and noise pollution generated by air traffic, the growth of waste in a region with limited management systems and the progressive replacement of traditional agricultural activities with accommodation facilities. Several peasant families have already started selling their land, a sign of an economic transformation that risks erasing centuries-old cultural practices.
What about indigenous communities? They too have been contesting the project for some time, denouncing the loss of control over the territory and a development model centered on rapid, mass tourism, which is not very redistributive and has a high impact. The conflict highlights a recurring tension in many iconic destinations around the world: the difficult balance between accessibility, economic growth and heritage protection. In the case of Machu Picchu the paradox is evident: making it easier to reach one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world could contribute, in the long term, to compromising its integrity and symbolic value.
