A popular tourist destination, Ambohimanga received 97,847 visitors in 2011.
Visitors to the World Heritage Site are charged a fee (10,000 ariary for foreigners and 400 ariary for locals), which is largely used to pay for the preservation of the site.
The commune of Ambohimanga Rova is a small but thriving rural village that lives on agriculture and services provided to tourists and pilgrims who visit the royal city.
Multilingual tour guides can be hired at the site to provide detailed descriptions of its features and history.
Photographs are permitted outdoors but prohibited inside the historic buildings.
Tourism has been negatively affected at the site as a consequence of the 2009 Malagasy political crisis; management of the site has also been hampered by political instability and reduced revenues since 2009.

The extent of the area currently classified a World Heritage Site was under restricted access and protection during the imperial era and has been under some form of legal recognition and protection since French colonization, having been incorporated into the Colony Domains Service in 1897 and the National Inventory in 1939.
It has since benefited from legal municipal protection and two national laws (passed in 1982 and 1983) protecting sites of historical and national interest.
The Office of the Cultural Site of Ambohimanga (OSCAR), created by the Ministry of Culture, has managed the site and its entrance fees and state subventions since 2006, when a five-year management plan was developed for implementation by the group's 30 employees.
These management and conservation activities are conducted in cooperation with the local population within the Rural Commune of Ambohimanga Rova.
The Village Committee, comprising representatives of all the adjacent quarters and the local community, are also involved in the protection of the site.
Conservation of Ambohimanga is further supported by a private association, Mamelomaso, which has also been active in campaigning for awareness and protection of cultural heritage and has contributed to the preservation of numerous other sites of cultural and historic significance in the highlands.
In addition to helping replant the Ambohimanga woodlands, Mamelomaso has contributed to the restoration of the stones around the source of the spring, erected informational plaques around the hill, and paved a number of footpaths within the site.
UNESCO contributed special financial support to restore historic structures at Ambohimanga threatened by exceptionally heavy rainfall and landslides.

Ambohimanga has been viewed by many Merina since the late 19th century as the embodiment of an ideal social order blessed by the ancestors.
The significance attached to the site in Imerina increased further when its sister rova in Antananarivo was destroyed by fire in 1995, contributing to a sense that Ambohimanga was the last remaining physical link to this sanctified past.
A small intellectual elite among the Tsimahafotsy clan of Ambohimanga and the nobles (andriana) believe that only Ambohimanga possesses the ancestral benediction (hasina) to serve as the national capital and imbue national leaders with the legitimacy and wisdom needed to rightly govern the country.
The descendants of the andriana have consequently been key in promoting and protecting Ambohimanga, such as by playing a significant role in successfully lobbying UNESCO to list Ambohimanga as a World Heritage Site.

Despite these measures, the conservation of Ambohimanga is challenged by human and natural factors.
The rapidly growing but relatively impoverished population around Ambohimanga occasionally engages in illegal harvesting of plants and trees from the surrounding forests, threatening the integrity of the natural environment.
The forests and wooden structures on the site are also susceptible to fire.
Following the 1995 destruction by fire of Ambohimanga's sister rova at Antananarivo, widely believed to have been a politically motivated arson, rumors have circulated that Ambohimanga could suffer a similar fate.
Cyclone Giovanna, whic
A popular tourist destination, Ambohimanga received 97,847 visitors in 2011. Visitors to the World Heritage Site are charged a fee (10,000 ariary for foreigners and 400 ariary for locals), which is largely used to pay for the preservation of the site. The commune of Ambohimanga Rova is a small but thriving rural village that lives on agriculture and services provided to tourists and pilgrims who visit the royal city. Multilingual tour guides can be hired at the site to provide detailed descriptions of its features and history. Photographs are permitted outdoors but prohibited inside the historic buildings. Tourism has been negatively affected at the site as a consequence of the 2009 Malagasy political crisis; management of the site has also been hampered by political instability and reduced revenues since 2009.
The extent of the area currently classified a World Heritage Site was under restricted access and protection during the imperial era and has been under some form of legal recognition and protection since French colonization, having been incorporated into the Colony Domains Service in 1897 and the National Inventory in 1939. It has since benefited from legal municipal protection and two national laws (passed in 1982 and 1983) protecting sites of historical and national interest. The Office of the Cultural Site of Ambohimanga (OSCAR), created by the Ministry of Culture, has managed the site and its entrance fees and state subventions since 2006, when a five-year management plan was developed for implementation by the group's 30 employees. These management and conservation activities are conducted in cooperation with the local population within the Rural Commune of Ambohimanga Rova. The Village Committee, comprising representatives of all the adjacent quarters and the local community, are also involved in the protection of the site. Conservation of Ambohimanga is further supported by a private association, Mamelomaso, which has also been active in campaigning for awareness and protection of cultural heritage and has contributed to the preservation of numerous other sites of cultural and historic significance in the highlands. In addition to helping replant the Ambohimanga woodlands, Mamelomaso has contributed to the restoration of the stones around the source of the spring, erected informational plaques around the hill, and paved a number of footpaths within the site. UNESCO contributed special financial support to restore historic structures at Ambohimanga threatened by exceptionally heavy rainfall and landslides.
Ambohimanga has been viewed by many Merina since the late 19th century as the embodiment of an ideal social order blessed by the ancestors. The significance attached to the site in Imerina increased further when its sister rova in Antananarivo was destroyed by fire in 1995, contributing to a sense that Ambohimanga was the last remaining physical link to this sanctified past. A small intellectual elite among the Tsimahafotsy clan of Ambohimanga and the nobles (andriana) believe that only Ambohimanga possesses the ancestral benediction (hasina) to serve as the national capital and imbue national leaders with the legitimacy and wisdom needed to rightly govern the country. The descendants of the andriana have consequently been key in promoting and protecting Ambohimanga, such as by playing a significant role in successfully lobbying UNESCO to list Ambohimanga as a World Heritage Site.
Despite these measures, the conservation of Ambohimanga is challenged by human and natural factors. The rapidly growing but relatively impoverished population around Ambohimanga occasionally engages in illegal harvesting of plants and trees from the surrounding forests, threatening the integrity of the natural environment. The forests and wooden structures on the site are also susceptible to fire. Following the 1995 destruction by fire of Ambohimanga's sister rova at Antananarivo, widely believed to have been a politically motivated arson, rumors have circulated that Ambohimanga could suffer a similar fate. Cyclone Giovanna, whic
Ambohimanga