Inca Trail Porters Get Pay Hike and Better Benefits

[Originally published November 15, 2022] Inca Trail porters who haul huge loads of provisions and tourists’ belongings on the famed hike to Machu Picchu are now entitled to better wages and benefits.

Much better!

The Porter Workers Law Nº 31614 published this week in Peru’s official Gazette El Peruano mandates a 250 percent hike in the minimum daily pay for porters, from S/.55 soles to S/.138 soles.

That means the minimum pay a porter receives by law for the classic 4-day Inca Trail Trek will increase to nearly $143, up from about $57.

The new labor rights covered in the law include overtime pay and require Inca Trail operators to give porters at least five days off to rest between treks.

The new law bolsters the insurance coverage that tour operators must provide the porters. And it also closes a loophole that permitted some tour companies to get around the minimum age requirement of 18 and put kids as young as 16 to work hauling equipment.

Protection of Fundamental Labor Rights for Inca Trail Porters

The weight limit established by law remains 20 kilograms for male porters and a maximum of 15 kilograms for female porters.

The employer is obligated to provide the porters with appropriate clothing and personal protective equipment, including lumbar support belts.

The law mandates “respect for fundamental labor rights” including the porters’ ability to seek work with “equal opportunities and without discrimination,” as well as the right to collective bargaining.

Peru Tourism Associations Opposed the New Porter Law

Some tourism associations lobbied hard against passage of the law last month when it was being considered by Congress.

The National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) requested that lawmakers shelve the bill. It argued that the legislation was prepared without the participation and technical input of the tourism sector. Canatur’s board of directors said they welcomed legislation to improve pay and working conditions of the porters. But they criticized the law, contending the real for tour operators would be 400 percent per porter.

John Gonzales Chuchón, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Cusco, railed against the law in Peruvian newspapers.

“In tourism, tour packages are not sold overnight,” Chuchón reportedly said. “They are sold weeks or months in advance, reservations are even made from one year to the next and this has a price set in which the provisions of this law were not considered.”

He warned that the price increase, if passed on to tourists, would lead to cancellations. And if tour companies shoulder the burden, “they will be condemned to suffer great losses” just as Peru’s tourism sector is struggling to reactivate following the Covid-19 pandemic.

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