This paper seeks to explore the perceptions of local people on heritage tourism in Tawang Monastery, an important heritage tourism site in Arunachal Pradesh. The study also examines the trend and growth of tourists’ inflow in Tawang during 2015 to 2021 based on secondary data. Data were collected through field survey from randomly selected 100 households covering ten villages in January 2023. The results showed that local people participate in tourism activities only moderately and voluntarily. They mainly participate in provision of food, accommodation and transport activities. The people stated that tourism enhances the their income by promoting sales of handlooms and handicrafts, transport services, provides jobs and business opportunities. The study indicated that local people faced difficulties and disadvantages while participating in tourism services due lack of skills and knowledge and lack of professional training. The study calls for providing training to local people to enhance their skills to enable them to take up different tourism-based activities.