The permit to trek the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu will be available from October 1, travellers willing to trek the Inca Trail for the coming year can start planning as the permit will be available four months in advance.
The Ministry of Culture had until this year had released initial tranche in January of the same year and rest was in February. However, it was the first time that all the permits were released on October 1, 2017 for the coming year.
The permit is limited to 500 per day and the tour operators insists on booking the trek as soon as they can. Dan Clarke of RealWorld Holidays said that the tickets are usually sold out after the peak trekking months of April, May and August. The number five-hundred may sound more but considering the permit needed by the guides, cooks and other members of the trek team, it exhausts very soon.
Permits are usually available through officially licensed company that operates the trek and cannot be purchased separately. The Classic Inca Trail is said to be the most popular of all the specialist South American operator RealWorld’s trips.
There is an alternative route for travellers who miss out on the Inca Trail permit to Machu Picchu via the Salkantay trek where no permit is required.
Laura Rendull-Dunn, tour operator of Journey Latin America said that while passing through the Salkantay trek one has to pass through small communities and farmsteads and visit Mach Picchu from the other side. Travellers will get to see a stunning panorama that will be free from the human interference without transport,farms and tourist.
Machu Pichu is considered as the most iconic sites in the world but it has been in the recent years received threat from UNESCO for being placed in the endangered list.
Issues related to overcrowding had earlier prompted the Peruvian government to introduce a new timed entry system that helped in the even distribution of the visitors and reducing queue times. The new system controversially allowed an increase in the number of visitors from 5,000 to around 6,000 more than double from the permitted UNESCO recommendation of 2,500.
