Before the Foreign Trade and Tourism Commission of the Congress, the head of the Mincetur, Luis Helguero, affirmed that, between December 12, 2022 and January 22, 2023, the sightseeing lost S/1,052 million for the social conflict. Although many times when talking about this area you want to link only to large hotel chains or five-fork restaurants, the truth is that behind the sector there are thousands of entrepreneurs, micro and small businesses and, according to Confiep, around four million jobs. .
These entrepreneurs and workers, mainly from the south of the country, are currently experiencing one of the most difficult moments due to social conflict. José Ángel Ayerbe, who represents tourist guides and also has an ice cream parlor in Cusco called Qosqo Creme, reports that he and the thousands of businessmen who today see how the Imperial City has changed tourists are going through “high” moments. by protesters.
“We are waiting for an agency to offer us work,” he says, but that does not happen because to carry out this work it is necessary to have people who ask for it, and today, with the indefinite closure of Machu Picchu and the reservations almost 100% cancelled, no There is someone to provide that service.
His ice creams, which are successful among visitors who arrive in Cusco, are not sold as he would like, so the only thing he hopes is for this situation to end to return to normality, the one that the pandemic took from them and today they do who generate violence.
Another guide who is having a difficult time in Cusco is Jesús Galimberti. He, along with his wife, also owns a restaurant that he has decided to close for now.
“As a guide, I have canceled January, February and the first half of March. If this is solved tomorrow, it will take at least three months for tourism to recover because the traveler is going to have to see if it really happened ”, he points out.
Look: Protests put almost 30% of formal employment in the country at risk
Meanwhile, he is looking for a way to get money for his home. One of the activities that she is carrying out is the distribution of gas cylinders; however, she cannot do it every day because she comes across a demonstration or road closure.
In other parts of the country the situation does not seem different. From Puno, a tour operator who prefers not to divulge his name “for fear that they will take action” against him assures that January and February are high seasons for his region due to the festival of the Virgin of Candelaria, but not all faith can prevent savings from running out and “that we are surviving with what we had.”
Working in something else is also difficult for him, since in the southern region it is not known when a business could be the victim of an attack. He respects and accepts that people march, what he condemns is violence and that those who need to get ahead today are not allowed to work.
In Arequipa, the situation does not look better for the sector either. A worker at the Hotel Arequipa Vive, whose name will also be kept confidential, considers that they are living a worse moment than the pandemic, since at least during the health crisis people who maintained social isolation were staying.
Their hope rests on what will be the Easter season, because now they do not have guests and fewer reservations. To try to get ahead, they are giving promotions in the hotel restaurant, but he knows that this is not enough to reach the quota.
The other side of the coin is lived by Jano Sandoval, a teacher from Tarapoto who is also dedicated to transporting tourists in his motorcycle taxi.
As he comments, despite being the low season, more visitors are arriving because the demonstrations in his area have not been violent and what “people are looking for is to continue working.”
DATA
The vice president of the Cusco Chamber of Commerce, Carmen Arrospide, indicated that there are 150,000 people in the tourism sector in her region who are not working.
He stated that hotel occupancy does not exceed 3% in Cusco.
