Andina

Peru's Sipan museum to attract 160,000 visitors in 2013

Walter Alva walks outside the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum in Lambayeque, Peru. Photo: ANDINA/Carlos Lezama.

Walter Alva walks outside the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum in Lambayeque, Peru. Photo: ANDINA/Carlos Lezama.

12:31 | Lima, Oct. 31 (ANDINA).

About 160,000 Peruvian and foreign tourists are expected to visit this year the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum in Lambayeque, a 15 percent drop compared to 2012.

Museum director and noted archaeologist Walter Alva attributes the decrease in the number of visitors to a delay in sanitation works across the northern Lambayeque region.

"We fear that this would have a negative impact later on, because tours are usually planned one or two years in advance," Alva stated. "When people see that works make little or no progress, they will eventually remove the tourist site from their programs."

To avoid such a scenario, he urged authorities to complete the works and pave the streets as soon as possible.

Alva also said he hopes for a rapid approval of a crucial comprehensive project that will allow the museum to build new facilities such a museum for kids and a temporary exhibition space.

(END) SDC/MAO/EEP


Published: 10/31/2013