Luxury Travel Guides is ranked 170th on the globe (CIA, 2014). It really is smaller than the size of Connecticut, one of the smallest states in in the us. Moreover, Lebanon is among the few democratic countries in the centre East region. Regarding its economy, Lebanon is a free market economy and has a very long tradition of laissez-faire economics. Along with its coastal location on the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Lebanon is recognized as the central ‘window’ of the center East to Europe, North Africa, and the rest of the world. For this reason, its economy went through some very prosperous times and was even once called the ‘Paris’ of the center East prior to the nation’s 15 year-long bloody civil war which ended in 1990.
Also, although Lebanon is tiny, it is also probably the most diverse nations on earth. Christians, Muslims, Druze, along with other minority sects are spread all over the small nation and even Lebanon’s political system is dependant on sectarian power sharing.
However, this diversity had played a pivotal role in the country’s problems. This diversity was a required condition of the country’s sectarian civil war and currently plays a significant role in its political paralysis, although other factors (mainly foreign) are to blame as well. There is currently no acting President and the country’s rival political parties keep bickering and preventing instead of facilitating the country’s development.
Furthermore, Lebanon’s proximity to Israel has made it a foreign policy/proxy battleground for foreign nations, each using Lebanon because of its own selfish ends.
The sad political realities of the country have significantly hurt the country’s economy. Also, since Lebanon is a service-based economy, this specific sector has taken the largest hit.
Tourism plays a substantial role in the country’s economy. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Economy & Trade (MOET), “Tourism is definitely among Lebanon’s leading economic sectors” (Economic Research Unit, 2010).
Furthermore, The World Travel & Tourism Council estimated that the travel & tourism sector in Lebanon contributed over $4 billion dollars in 2013 (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2014).
The travel & tourism sector made up about 10% of the economy in 2012 but that share dropped to 9% in 2013 (ibid, p. 14). This is due to the political situation in the united kingdom as well as some other factors. Moreover, the quantity of tourist arrivals in the country kept decreasing from 2011 to 2013.
Since the tourism industry has been somewhat floundering in the past few years, the area for error becomes really small for businesses in this industry. The political & economic situations are squeezing tourist-related (TR) businesses in Lebanon. Therefore these businesses are forced to do more to make up for increasing losses (or decreasing profits) sufficient reason for fewer resources. There is no telling when the political & economy in Lebanon will improve especially because the civil war in neighboring Syria shows no signs of abating.
There are many techniques Lebanese TR businesses can adapt during these times such as for example implementing downsizing policies and cutting back on marketing & advertising budgets. When economic recessions and tough times affect businesses, the first things to get eliminated are often marketing budgets. But especially since TR businesses need to do more marketing to make up for lost businesses, this may not be a good idea.
One solution to this issue is to make the most of Social Media Marketing strategies since they cost little to no resources, perfect for the current economy in Lebanon. Social media marketing allows TR businesses to overcome obstacles of limited budgets and decreased business.
Problem Statement
During the past couple of years, the positive effect of social media marketing on business has been extremely high (Kaplan et al., 2010; Stelzner, 2010; Treem & Leonardi, 2012, p. 143; Baker & Green, 2014).
Moreover, Facebook and Twitter fans of a specific brand are much more likely to recommend and buy from these brands than non-fans (Cruz & Mendelsohn, 2011). But, we don’t need to make certain of social media’s impact on business through research studies. For social media users, which include over 30% of the planet, this fact is known. More and more businesses are inserting Social Media marketing tools into their marketing strategies and, sometimes, have even become a fundamental element of their overall business strategy.
Naturally, you might expect that Lebanese businesses would quickly adopt Social Media Marketing as a key role in their overall marketing strategies but this is simply not the case. When it comes to the Middle East and especially Lebanon, the spot is far behind the West in social media usage. Not only that, with regards to businesses involved in the tourism industry, there’s much room for growth. Little investment in technology is keeping tourist businesses from maximizing marketing opportunities given by social media.
The Lebanese tourism industry isn’t taking advantage of social media tactics even though the advantages of doing so are apparent. This presents a great problem especially since the economy is going through a very rough time.
Moreover, Lebanese TR businesses and businesses in Lebanon in general are not adopting social media tools as they should. This presents a huge problem in the waste of resources and also significant missed opportunities as a more substantial target audience could be reached via social media enabling businesses that adopt social media tools gain a better potential for success and prosperity