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)
