We do benefit from tourism, but there's a growing number of outsiders working in the business now, especially guides and trekking agents, and it means tough competition for local people. I often end up working for lower prices, just out of fear of losing the job altogether.
Lodge owners should charge Nepalese people different, lower rates than they charge tourists — prices here have gone up a lot, and it's government employees and poorer people who feel it most.
I can't think of a real negative social impact tourism has had on our lives. The contact with visitors to Sagarmatha is genuinely valuable — everyone enjoys learning about other cultures, and it's a good way to practice English. Most tourists seem well aware of the trekking guidelines here; they don't leave rubbish, they don't take firewood from the forest. Sometimes they know more about how to treat the environment than I do.
What I do notice is the impact on the land itself — more stone quarried to build more lodges, more trees cut for firewood. You can see it clearly if you've walked these trails for years.
The guides who know this land best are also the ones being priced out of it.