Tourism is an activity of a person which includes traveling and staying in
places that are outside of their location for business, vacation and other purpose. Largescale
tourism in developed and developing countries has positive and negative effects on
the regional and national economies, local culture, physical infrastructure and environment.
There are considerable gaps in research regarding tourism and livelihood in
developing countries like Nepal. This research work aims at fulfilling such gap by
assessing the impact of tourism on livelihood in Manaslu conservation area (MCA) of
Nepal. We interviewed 76 household followed by three focus group discussions and five
key informant interviews. The first-hand information collected at the site is complimented
by socioeconomic and tourism-related secondary information. Socioeconomic variables
such as marital status, size of household, education and landholding status had positive
effect on tourism participation while livestock-holding status and occupation of the
household had negative effect on tourism participation. Number of visitors is increasing in
MCA in recent years, and tourism participation is helping local people to earn more
money and improve their living standard. So, awareness and education related to tourism,
gender empowerment of women, advertisement and publicity on tourism promotion,
adequate subsidy and training on ecotourism and skill development trainings on handicraft
are recommended.