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Community's participation is fundamental in understanding the factors that influence their access to and utilization of tourism resources. It is a plausible way of involving local communities in the planning and management of the available resources for their sustainability. This study examined the socio-economic characteristics of the households in Murchison Falls Conservation Area to understand how they influence their participation in tourism and eventually enhance household welfare. Using household survey and key informant interviews, data were collected on demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and analyzed using Binomial Logit Regression in order to show the factors that influence participation of households in tourism. It was found that the households' characteristics significantly influenced their participation. In particular, level of education (r = 0.824), engagement in farm labor (r = 0.651), provision of services to the tourists (r = 0.841), income (r = 0.83) and landholding (r = 0.689) significantly influenced households' participation in tourism. On the other hand, age (r = 0.59) and period of residence (r = 0.430) did not significantly influence the households' participation in tourism. These results suggest that a clear understanding of the households' socio-economic characteristics is a vital step in engaging them meaningfully in tourism activities meant to enhance their livelihoods. Equally important is the need for tourism managers and local government leaders to consider these characteristics when designing policies and strategies to enhance community involvement and management of tourism at a conservation area level.

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Uganda is among the most bio-diverse countries and a competitive wildlife-based tourism destination in the world. Community-based tourism approach has been adopted in the country's conservation areas as a strategy to ensure that local communities benefit and support wildlife conservation. This chapter analyses local communities' perceptions of conservation and the benefits they get from tourism in Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area. The study reveals that local communities were concerned about loss of protected resources and support their conservation irrespective of the benefits they get from tourism in the conservation area. There is need to design conservation programmes that focus on local community-conservation-benefits nexus which take into consideration the perceived conservation values, strategies for benefit sharing and incorporation of indigenous knowledge systems.

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