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Lima (AFP) Feb 16, 2010 Peru's main tourist attraction Machu Picchu, one of the world's most prized heritage sites, will reopen in April after heavy rains cut off the ancient citadel earlier this month, Tourism Minister Martin Perez said Tuesday. "We hope from April 1 to begin to receive the millions of tourists that have always come" to visit the site, Perez told reporters here. Progress was being made to rebuild the railway link to the remote Inca site, Perez stressed, after torrential rains swept away parts of the track. The 15th century city perched around 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) above sea level is the most visited site in Latin America, a pillar of the Cusco region and the source of 90 percent of Peru's tourist revenues, according to the country's finance ministry. The railway was damaged in hundreds of places by flooding and landslides prompted by the rains that hit the country in late January. The Tourism Observatory has warned that Peru stands to lose up to 0.64 percent of GDP if tourism declines, with particularly serious repercussions for Cusco, where some 175,000 people make a living in the tourism industry. Thousands of stranded foreign tourists were evacuated from the small village of Aguas Calientes, the gateway to Machu Picchu, threatened by rising waters from the Vilcanota river.
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