Marketing Nepal in an uncertain climate: Confronting perceptions of risk and insecurity

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.

The influence of terrorism in tourism arrivals: A longitudinal approach in a Mediterranean country

“…The topic of terrorism spillover effects has produced a considerable amount of literature (Veréb, Nobre, & Farhangmehr, 2018). The decline in tourists' arrivals and receipts caused by terrorism is well documented in several countries and regions since the 90s and has affected countries like Spain (Enders & Sandler, 1991), European countries ( (Enders, Sandler, & Parise, 1992;Radić, Dragičević, & Sotošek, 2018), the Mediterranean region (Drakos & Kutan, 2003), non-democratic countries and Africa (Blomberg, Hess, & Orphanides, 2004), the USA (Bonham, Edmonds, & Mak, 2006;Goodrich, 2002), Israel (Eckstein & Tsiddon, 2004;Fleisher & Buccola, 2002;Morag, 2006;Pizam & Fleischer, 2002), Italy (Greenbaum & Hultquist, 2006), Nepal (Baral, Baral, & Nigel, 2004), Ireland (O'Connor, Stafford, & Gallagher, 2008), Fiji and Kenya (Fletcher & Morakabati, 2008), Nigeria (Adora, 2010); Turkey (Feridun, 2011;Ozsoy & Sahin, 2006), Pakistan (Raza & Jawaid, 2013), the Middle East (Bassil, 2014), the Caribbean (Lutz & Lutz, 2018), Tunisia (Lanouar & Goaied, 2019), and worlwide (Liu & Pratt, 2017;Llorca-Vivero, 2008;Neumayer & Plümper, 2016).…”

Factors Inducing National Media Coverage for Tourism in Rural versus Urban Areas: The Role of Public Relations

“…Destination image is a crucial marketing concept in the tourism industry and a positive image is essential in discussing competing cities, especially competing tourist sites (Govers & Go, 2009). Destination image is an important aspect in successful tourism development and marketing (Govers & Go, 2009;Avraham & Ketter, 2008;Baral, Baral, & Morgan, 2004;Pike, 2002). Many destination management organizations (DMOs) invest great effort and resources in designing and strengthening a positive image and transmitting it to consumers through the media (Ritchie & Crouch, 2000).…”

“…Many destination management organizations (DMOs) invest great effort and resources in designing and strengthening a positive image and transmitting it to consumers through the media (Ritchie & Crouch, 2000). Promoting a tourist product is essential when a destination has been tagged with a negative image resulting from a tourist crisis initiated by security (or other) problems (Mansfeld, 1999;Baral et al, 2004). Negative publicity of this type struck Serbia and Nepal, for example (Popesku & Maric, 2003;Baral et al, 2004), and world tourism after the 2001 terror attacks on the United States (September 11, 2001).…”

“…Promoting a tourist product is essential when a destination has been tagged with a negative image resulting from a tourist crisis initiated by security (or other) problems (Mansfeld, 1999;Baral et al, 2004). Negative publicity of this type struck Serbia and Nepal, for example (Popesku & Maric, 2003;Baral et al, 2004), and world tourism after the 2001 terror attacks on the United States (September 11, 2001). In these examples, a media campaign strategy was recommended that included PR as a dominant component for (re)building a brand and (re)instilling brand and encouraging travelers to visit these destinations (Fall & Massey, 2005).…”

Developing a Scenario Planning Process Using a Blank Piece of Paper

“…These incidents have had an impact on tourism and led to the importance of communications and crisis management in tourism destination management organisations (Baral et al, 2003). But, in fact, terrorism and other incidents have been a continuous source of disruption for tourism (Brown, 2003;Durie, 2002).…”