Pope-mania boosts Peru tourist industry as pilgrims fill hotels and shop for souvenirs

By Marco Aquino

LIMA, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops in Peru are preparing for a surge in visitors as Pope Leo arrives on Wednesday in the country that he once called ​home.

Around 850,000 domestic travelers are expected to see the pope ‌on his six-day visit to Peru, which will include stops in Lima, Cusco, Pucallpa and Chiclayo, a city where Leo previously served as bishop. Another 50,000 international visitors are also expected, said Peru’s trade and tourism minister Rogers Valencia, adding that flights were fully booked ‌and ​tourism infrastructure ready.

Before becoming head of the Catholic ⁠Church, US-born Robert Prevost spent ⁠years in Peru as a missionary. His ascent to the papacy has been a big boost for Peru, where religious tourism is newer than in other countries in the region such as Mexico, which ​attracts roughly 20 million such tourists each year, according to the World Religious Tourism Network.

A government-promoted tourism route known as the “Paths of Pope ⁠Leo XIV” that traces places, including remote ⁠villages, where Leo carried out pastoral work along Peru’s ​northern coast has already drawn more than one million visitors since his election to ​the papacy in May 2025. The route generated 450 million soles ($125 ‌million) in its first year, according to state agency PromPerú.

In Lima’s Gamarra shopping district, clothing maker Victoria Quiñones said she expected a threefold increase in work during October and November as demand swells for pope-themed T-shirts and souvenirs.

“It will ⁠be the best campaign of the year,” said Quiñones. She said she was already running low on fabric for her designs, which include prints of Leo eating famous ⁠Peruvian dishes.

At Peru’s largest ‌women’s prison, inmates are making velvet dolls with ⁠the pope’s image to sell, while bakers in Chiclayo ​have crafted ‌pope-shaped breads and a giant statue of Leo ​was unveiled in ⁠the port city of Callao.

More than two million people are expected to attend Masses held in Lima and Chiclayo during Leo’s visit, part of a tour that has also included stops in Uruguay and Argentina that attracted record crowds.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Leila Miller. Editing by Lucinda Elliott, Cassandra Garrison ​and Rosalba O’Brien)