The development of the Ecuadorian rural localities is today an emerging issue that stimulates the investigation of potentialities for the improvement of the quality of life. For this reason, the generation of jobs by local development projects is of paramount importance. In the communities "La Estancilla", "Salango" and "Jipijapa" of the province of Manabí, a descriptive study was carried out with the objective of determining the potential of implementation of a local development project, which allows the tourist management of the cultural and natural heritage for the generation of employment. Techniques such as semi-structured interview and key informants, document analysis, observation and statistical methods were used. The results showed that the current situation in the communities is characterized by being agricultural and / or fishing the main source of employment, with a tendency to reduction due to migration of its population to places of greater urbanization, there is a greater number of inhabitants working outside the localities, all the covered places, as well as the young people and the women are the main unemployed groups. It is assumed that the project can generate approximately 60 new jobs in each community. It is concluded that the current situation of employment would be improved with endogenous development from tourism management projects as an alternative for the promotion of new occupations. The project is established as an important alternative that has the potential to change the employment situation in the area due to the favorable opinion about it by the local population.