You wrote:
"The sad thing is that Peru can barely balance the tourist traffic it gets already while still preserving its natural sites and artifacts. "
Any facts/numbres to back up this claim ?
Do you mean Machu Pichu (Where this is true) or all of Peru ?
I recently visited Nazca and it was not particularly busy at all. ( Compared to last years visit to Yosemite valley it was refreshing not to wait in line to see anything)
Yeah, sorry, no numbers... I was drawing on anecdotal experiences.
I've also been to Nazca and my impression was that though the tourist traffic was only a tiny fraction of Machu Picchu, the town couldn't handle much more of it. Even in off season the airport was booked to capacity and people had to wait hours for scheduled flights.
Another example (besides Machu Picchu) that comes to mind is Paracas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracas_National_Reserve). It's hardly a mainstream tourist attraction, but the degradation from the tourist industry was pretty apparent when I visited in 2009, despite being a protected area.
Any facts/numbres to back up this claim ?
Do you mean Machu Pichu (Where this is true) or all of Peru ?
I recently visited Nazca and it was not particularly busy at all. ( Compared to last years visit to Yosemite valley it was refreshing not to wait in line to see anything)