While Protected Area based Tourism (PAT) has become a global phenomenon, its
social, economic and environmental implications are also widening. Almost half of the entire
tourists coming to Nepal visit protected areas (PAs). The country has embraced this as an
opportunity for conservation, poverty reduction and economic development. However, only
limited groups, often outsiders or elites, are reported to reap benefits of PAT whilst poor and
marginalized groups struggle for both rights and benefits. Further, the distribution of tourist as
well as the revenue generated is not even across different PAs. Policy and legal ambience are partly
muddled with numerous approaches for resource management. However, recent ‘paradigm shift’
in the management and governance of PAs offers optimism to address social, economic and
environmental anomalies. In the pretext of limited rigorous site specific studies and complexities
to measure trade-offs between problems and gains, this article stresses on transformation in PA
governance so as to realize full and equitable sharing of benefits from PAT.