Machu Picchu: they question online ticket sales by Joinnus and demand public bidding

In it tourism sector The opinion is practically unanimous that the tickets sale entrance to the citadel of Machu Picchu is 100% online, But this process must be carried out by calling for a transparent tender that allows suspicions to be avoided and a secure and auditable system to be made available to visitors, according to a group of businessmen from various unions in the sector.

The businessmen highlight that, recently, the Legislative Branch, through its presidency, questioned the outsourcing of the sale of tickets to Machu Picchu through the private company platform Joinnus, hired by the Ministry of Culture to manage the ticketing system. In addition, they warn that it would earn 4% of the total online ticket sales to the Inca citadel without having participated in a public tender.

“Currently, the criteria used by the Ministry of Culture to choose Joinnus as the company to provide the online ticket sales service to Machu Picchu is officially unknown,” the businessmen stressed in a note from press.

In that sense, businessmen belonging to tourism activity demanded that the Government call for a tender in order to avoid any type of suspicion or irregularity when giving the bid.

About, Sergio Rivasgeneral manager of the hotel chain Costa del Sol, commented that all State contracting processes must be transparent and involve bidding. He added that ticket sales must be 100% online, but with a clear tender and without suspicion of irregularity.

In turn, the former president of the Cusco Chamber of Commerce, Eddy Cuellar, also spoke in favor of a clean tender between companies that can provide an efficient service and that the tourist will benefit the most. “There are existing procedures in public bidding so that said process is transparent and clean,” he said.

The businessman estimates that Machu Picchu raises “approximately S/200 million annually” from the sale of tickets to national and foreign tourists. Therefore, the Joinnus company would receive between S/7 million to S/10 million for the aforementioned service.

In turn, Publio Santander, former president of the Peruvian Association of Travel Agencies (APAVIT), also points out that the government should have “made a tender in a transparent manner.”

“Those who are in the public sector have the need to demonstrate their honesty, their transparency in the sense that the State has absolutely nothing to do with the winning company,” he maintains. He adds that there is more than one option in the system for reserves and that “even with the money paid to the company, the State could formulate its own reserve system so as not to depend on anyone.”

“Joinnus is a solid and capable company, but there are other suppliers that have the same right as them to be part of a possibility. This means a big business and the big businesses granted by the State must have the possibility of being open to other companies or entrepreneurs,” he says.

For his part, Luis Villa Prado, lawyer and consultant on tourism issues, maintains that State entities have standards to comply with, when referring to the issue of bidding. “You simply have to apply the rule,” he emphasizes.

In the case of online sales to Machu Picchu, Villa Prado is in favor of a tender, taking into account the volumes of tickets to be sold. “A tender that is as transparent and clear as possible should be called,” emphasizes the tourism consultant. He adds that it would be unthinkable for the Ministry of Culture to be so quick to have awarded a contract of this type to Joinnus without having followed the legal procedure.

Finally, the president of the National Federation of Tourist Guides (FENAGUITURP), Dania Vila, maintains that the 100% online sale of tickets to Machu Picchu will prevent the growth of a certain mafia in Machu Picchu Pueblo that mistreats national visitors and foreign.

When referring to the issue of the tender, Vila maintains that it should have been done “properly and thus avoid all types of problems.”