Destination image restoration on facebook: The case study of Nepal's Gurkha Earthquake

According to the image repair theory, destination image is a critical factor that should be cultivated and protected from crises. One important communication channel in times of crisis is the social media, with Facebook as the world's leading social network. In spite of Facebook's importance as a communication platform, it has received very limited attention in the literature of tourism crisis communication and image restoration. To bridge over this gap, the current study analysed the Nepal Tourism Board's use of Facebook to restore its image following the Gurkha earthquake - an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude that took place on April 25th 2015. For this purpose, a qualitative content analysis was conducted on the posts, content, pictures and links posted on the Nepal Tourism Board's Facebook page from April 25th to May 24th, 2015. The results of the study have shed light on the role of Facebook as a mean of image restoration and on its unique characteristics as a multi-functional tool that can be used to address diverse audiences, to conduct both formal and informal interactions, to post various kinds of information, to bypass the news media and to serve as an additional distribution channel.