LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Efforts by some African nations to attract luxury tourism have yielded limited benefits for local communities, with new research by the University of Manchester saying on Tuesday that it often causes more harm than good.

Rising business and leisure travel on the continent has made it increasingly attractive for multinational companies. Airlines have also increased their African capacity, and in some nations that momentum is translating into economic impact.

Many African governments are targeting luxury tourism development, describing it as "high-value, low-impact," but the research - published in African Studies Review - has found that is not always the case.

All-inclusive resorts are often cut off from local life, hire few local workers, and keep tourists from spending in nearby communities by providing everything on-site, it said.

The research added the most profitable eco-lodges were foreign-owned, with much of the tourist spending flowing to overseas travel agencies, food imports or profits repatriated abroad.

It also argued luxury tourism deepens inequality, with profits concentrated among foreign operators or a small local elite while wages for most tourism jobs remain low.

The issue is fuelling tensions on the ground.

Just last week, a local activist filed a lawsuit seeking to block the opening of a new Ritz-Carlton MAR.O luxury safari lodge, which boasts plunge pools and personalised butler service, in Kenya's Maasai Mara reserve.

The dispute is the latest flashpoint in East Africa's grasslands between luxury tourism and Maasai herders who say the sector's development is harming their habitats and ways of life.

In Kenya, locals have complained about what they say are land grabs by wealthy investors. In Tanzania, protests against the eviction of tens of thousands of Maasai to make way for hunting lodges have led to deadly clashes with police.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

((catarina.demony@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0) 7900 276927 (X: @CatarinaDemony);))