Tourism, as everyone knows, is in a bad way. But just how bad? January 2002 arrivals are grim: only 13, 576 visitors came to Nepal by air last month, a roughly 50 percent drop compared with the about 25,900 who flew in in January 2001. Third country arrivals (from countries other than India) dropped sharply, by almost 54 percent, and Indian arrivals fell by 24 percent. The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) blames the slump on the "false perception of travel safety in Nepal", but expects arrivals to improve, especially now that the United States has downgraded its travel advisory for Nepal. The tourism industry is worried that a third consecutive bad year could be the straw that breaks the industry's back. Overall tourist arrivals in 2001 dropped by almost 23 percent, compared with the year before (including arrivals by land), a trend which began with the end-December 1999 hijacking of the Indian Airlines aircraft from Kathmandu, and that worsened with the deteriorating law and order situation in the country and the imposition of the emergency.