The Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru has been awarded South America’s Leading Green Destination by the World Travel Awards at the recent 17th Annual World Travel Awards Ceremony in Jamaica. Machu Picchu was chosen over eight nominees, which included Argentina’s Patagonia, Guyana’s Georgetown, Venezuela’s Caracas, and Brazil’s Abrolhos.
Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as the “Travel Industry’s equivalent to 
the Oscars,” the World Travel Awards are the most comprehensive and prestigious awards program of today’s global travel industry, and involves a voting campaign of about 185,000 travel professionals worldwide. The ancient citadel, one of the Seven Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is considered to be one of the most extraordinary examples of scenic architecture in the world.”This award shows that Peru’s tourism sector has a great impact on the economic, social and environmental development of the country,” said Promperu’s Tourism director Rocio Merino.
“The Lost City of the Incas,” it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World.The city of Machu Picchu itself was built at the top of a granite mountain. The Incas, using ingenious engineering techniques, were able to transport heavy stone blocks up the mountain side, and once there, they used their excellent masonry skills to produce amazingly polished stones that fit together perfectly. Machu Picchu “Old Mountain”, is a located 7,970 above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru which is 50 miles northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Experts believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca empero Pachacuti.
Machu Picchu has three primary buildings which are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These are located in what is known by archaeologists as the Sacred District of Machu Picchu.