Inca Trail prices

I did some research for a university project when I did a trek to Machu Picchu,this is what I found out.
Tourist train-$73
Entrance to machu Picchu-$37
Porters-from good companies get paid around $120 (4 days)
Cooks-($120) for 4 days.
Tour Guide-$160 for 4 days
Bus to machu Pichu-$12
plus food,hostels,camping equipment and transport to the start of Inca trail.
It surprised me that it costs so much for the train and entrance to Machu Picchu,and also there are a lot of companies out there that exploit their workers. I went with a company that treats and pays their workers very well and I spoke to our tour guide about this,i think it is better not going for the cheapest company for this reasonwww.phoenixperutours.com</a>

wow where did you get those prices. I went 4 years ago and we paid $120 each for food, tents, entrance to the ruins, a portero to carry one of our backpacks. Then our group of 10 tipped the porteros when it was all done. WE made our reservation in Cuzco at our wonderful hostel "San Blas"

frankmel9, thats an amazing univeristy investigacion! do you really have to go to a university for that?!and may I know how do you get to such conclusion that phoenixperutours is the best if they are not even listed in the official inca trail operators 2007? can i know your univeristy name? i am seriously thinking of writing them and tell wether you should get a degree or not !

When I started guiding it was free and saw people doing it 6 to 10 times just to meet other people!

We paid $375 USD each with United Mice to hike the Trail at the end of March. We loved our experience and our group, food and gear was great. We spoke to other people along our travels who paid about the same as we did and they were all thrilled with their experiences as well. If you find an operator charging $250, I would guess the experience might be substandard to the rest. It's only money - the experience is worth it the dollars.
Enjoy!