Abstract
Tourism is a significant foreign currency earner for Nepal and during the 1990s
its tourism industry enjoyed an unprecedented period of growth. During
2001-2002, however, international arrivals fell by over 20 per cent in the wake
of a highly publicised airline hijacking in 1999, a series of internal political
crises culminating in a declaration of a state of emergency in 2001 and the
aftermath of 11th September. This paper discusses the damaging consequences of
the resultant media coverage of Nepal as an unsafe destination and examines how
the Nepal Tourism Board is currently addressing the image challenge.