Faced with week-long protests, Peru Culture Minister has backtracked on her plans to privatise the ticketing of Machu Picchu, one of the most popular tourist sites in the South American country.

The Peruvian government has abandoned its previous plans to privatise the ticketing process for UNESCO World Heritage Site Machu Picchu, which is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the country.

According to news reports, Peru’s Minister of Culture Leslie Urteaga met with the Regional President of Cusco and the Mayor of the Machu Picchu district and reversed the decision to outsource the sale of entry tickets to Machu Picchu to a private company.

The reports added that while Urteaga remains concerned about alleged irregularities and a loss of USD 1.8 million for tickets not reported by state offices, Peru will be moving the ticket sales to an online platform managed by the national government.

As a result, the deal with Joinnus, a virtual ticket sales firm owned by wealthy businessmen, has been cancelled. Joinnus took over ticket sales in mid-January.

The week-long protest against the privatisation led to a complete stoppage of visitors coming to see Peru’s star tourism site and it also forced the local government to suspend rail service to the area. As a result of the tumult, hotels and restaurants serving the region have suffered.

The reports say that while the train service has been restored, the return of tourists to Machu Picchu remains a trickle. Tourism unions estimated the impact of the protests would cost the tourism industry about USD 4.7 million.

During the protests, four nations, namely the United States, Germany, France and Brazil, issued travel advisories due to the “potential lack of water and other essentials resulting from transport disruptions’’.