USA asks to reconsider travel to Peru: it could reach risk level 4

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On June 29, on the US State Department’s Travel page, it can be seen that Peru’s alert level went from 2 to 3.

It means the government recommends its citizens rethink the idea of traveling to the country as it considers the risk of suffering crimes or acts of terrorism has increased in some areas.

This warning implies “avoiding travel due to serious security risks”. Likewise, they expressly request not to travel to Loreto, on the border with Colombia and Ecuador, or to the VRAEM area, the valley of the Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro rivers, due to the presence of terrorism.

Carlos Canales, president of the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur), recalled that Peru was at level 2, and it had cost us a lot to reach that scale, which only implies being careful.

While level 3 already implies risks generated by transportation stoppages and some violent incidents in the country’s interior, especially in the area of Las Bambas.

For Canales, the issue of drug trafficking is permanent, and this warning is always present but focused on the Loreto region and the Vraem area.

“Millennials do not usually follow this warning; they know there is a risk of coming to Latin American countries, but it does not discourage them from traveling.

“Where there is a greater effect is in the segment of seniors, tourists over 60 years old, or when insurance companies say that you should not travel to countries with risk, since life or travel insurance does not apply,” he said.

The specialist indicates that the issue is limited to highway insecurity due to social violence and estimates that it should not have a significant impact.

What does have a negative impact, he clarified, is the country’s image because if the acts of violence on the highways or blockades continue, it could generate a level 4 risk.

He added that in level 4, it is practically forbidden to travel, “it is like going to Afghanistan,” which means that anyone who wants to travel to our country from the United States must assume the risk that their insurance company will not cover absolutely nothing.

“We have to be attentive; we have to work for social stability and transmit positive information and news, which can generate a balance between traveling to our country and knowing the wonders we have and the events that happen on the roads,” he argued.

GREATER MOVEMENT IN THE ANGLO-SAXON MARKET

For his part, Francisco Basili, president of the Peruvian Association of Adventure, Ecotourism and Specialized Tourism (Aptae), said that what we see in the communiqué issued by the United States to its citizens has a certain degree of reality.

And he emphasizes that the communiqué comes in a season of a greater flow of trips from the Anglo-Saxon market.

He points out that Peru is currently living in a continuous political and social upheaval state.

“On the one hand, the private and public sectors have been working to promote tourism, including Mincetur and Promperu, but the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defense are not helping us. So we have to work together to stop this bad image that is generated of the country and achieve what is needed, which is the real growth of tourism in Peru,” he said.

In this regard, he said that the State, on the one hand (Mincetur and Promperu), works to move tourism forward; on the other, it leaves a bad image.

Basili has been warning for months that the strikes and protests against the government, and those promoted by the government for the new Constitution, as well as the actions against illegal mining in Madre de Dios and drug trafficking, generate a tremendous impact on the tourism sector.

CHANCELLOR ASSURES THAT THE ALARM IS NOT SERIOUS

Cesar Landa, Peruvian Foreign Minister in Washington, said that the alarm issued by the United States is not as serious as it seems.

“In Peru, there are areas where we have to take greater precaution. Our country, as in many Latin American countries, has insecurity issues. In that sense, for some time now, the VRAEM has been an area that is not recommended for travel, and the same happens in the border area of Loreto with Colombia. So it is not the whole of Peru.

“These two regions are specifically very focused, but it must also be said that the number of visitors from the United States to Peru has increased in the last year. In 2021, 177,000 tourists entered, and between January and May 2022, 157,043 tourists have entered, and there is no news of serious affectations because they drive in the regions where there is not this situation of insecurity,” he explained.

With information from Infobae