“An Un(Even) Playing Field? A Political Ecology of Tourism Impacts in Upper Mustang, Nepal”

Before the onset of the COVID-19, tourism was one of the world's largest industries; as the pandemic wanes, recovery in the tourism industry is anticipated. While scholarly research on sustainable tourism has expanded, local perceptions of tourism impacts are comparatively understudied. Additionally, the role of power relations in tourism dynamics have been poorly theorized. As a geo-politically sensitive border region, only opened to foreign visitors in 1992, Upper Mustang, Nepal, is an ideal region to explore the dynamics. Using a political ecology approach, this paper examines core facets of tourism impacts and benefits, while incorporating history-driven power relationships. Results from 116 interviews in 24 villages show that perceived impacts of tourism were primarily dictated by geographical location, specifically communities' centrality to trekking routes and level of interactions. This uneven distribution of tourism benefits can be attributed to power relationships emerging from historically established social structures that predate tourism itself.