Trumpeter and composer Gabriel Alegria, one of Peru’s most influential jazz musicians, has made it big on the U.S. jazz scene with his 2008 tour featuring music rich with the heritage of Afro-Peruvian beats and guest appearances by some of today’s top names in jazz. His Peruvian leg of the tour, set to begin on […]

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee requested reinforced monitoring Thursday for Peru’s Inca citadel of Machu Picchu — the country’s top tourist attraction — expressing grave concern over the governance of the site and imminent risks of landslides, fires and deforestation.
The ruins, which narrowly escaped being added to the list of endangered World Heritage sites after environmental […]

The National Geographic Society insists Yale University turn over to Peru all artifacts taken from Machu Picchu by American historian Hiram Bingham nearly a century ago.
Though Yale recognized Peru’s title to the artifacts by signing a memorandum of understanding last September, negotiations are now stalled as Machu Picchu’s centennial “discovery” anniversary looms ahead.
“We were […]

Peru’s Foreign Minister has turned film critic, urging Peruvians to avoid seeing Stephen Spielberg’s latest blockbuster “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”… or was it “the Kingdom of the Geographically Challenged?”
“You shouldn’t see it,” José García Belaunde said in comments to CPN Radio on Thursday, which were widely reported in Peru’s newspapers […]

Peruvian archaeologists have uncovered skeletal remains of three people ritually sacrificed and buried in blood-stained sands around 4,000 years ago at the Bandurria archaeological ruins on Peru’s central Pacific coast, the research leader told Peruvian Times on Monday.
“It is the first time that such a violent human sacrifice has been reported,” San Marcos Univerisity archaeologist […]

The top representative of UNESCO in Lima said Sunday that Peru was well within its rights to demand Yale University return tens of thousands of artifacts and remains taken on loan nearly a century ago from the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, official state news agency Andina reported.
“The logical thing is for Peruvians to have […]

One new company, possibly two, will be competing with Peru Rail later this year, providing more railroad services on the highly-prized line to the pre-hispanic citadel of Machu Picchu, Peru’s key tourist attraction.
The first company to be granted the license is Inca Rail, formed by the Peruvian company Grupo Crosland and Turistren of Colombia as […]

A Bolivian anthropologist is appealing to his government to put the breaks on development of floating reed tourism attractions that replicate Peru’s Uros Islands on Lake Titicaca.
Manuel Rojas Boyan asked Bolivia to respect the ancient traditions of the Uros civilization, telling Peruvian daily El Comercio that he believes it is unacceptable to exploit a millenary […]

The High Commission for the 2008 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum has announced that Lima and the port city of Callao will replace Cusco as the venue for the scheduled APEC tourism meetings. According to Agencia Andina, the decision was made because of the “logistic and administrative conditions” in Lima and Callao.

Pablo Lopez de Romaña, former national director of tourism, has been appointed vice-minister of tourism in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism. He succeeds Eduardo Arrarte, who has resigned to return to the private sector. Lopez de Romaña, as also Arrarte, is a keen birdwatcher and has a particular interest in promoting Peru as […]