Lebanon’s area is ranked 170th on the planet (CIA, 2014). It really is smaller compared to the size of Connecticut, among the smallest states in in America. Moreover, Lebanon is probably the few democratic countries in the Middle East region. Regarding its economy, Lebanon is really a free market economy and has an extremely long tradition of laissez-faire economics. In addition to its coastal location on the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Lebanon is recognized as the central ‘window’ of the center East to Europe, North Africa, and all of those other world. For this reason, its economy has gone through some very prosperous times and was even once called the ‘Paris’ of the center East before the nation’s 15 year-long bloody civil war which ended in 1990.
Also, although Lebanon is tiny, additionally it is the most diverse nations on the planet. Christians, Muslims, Druze, and 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 nation’s problems. This diversity was a required condition of the country’s sectarian civil war and currently plays an important role in its political paralysis, although other factors (mainly foreign) are to blame as well. There’s 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 for its own selfish ends.
The sad political realities of the country have significantly hurt the country’s economy. Also, since Lebanon is really a service-based economy, this specific sector has taken the largest hit.
Tourism plays a significant role in the nation’s economy. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Economy & Trade (MOET), “Tourism has long been one of Lebanon’s leading economic sectors” (Economic Research Unit, 2010).
Furthermore, THE PLANET 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 composed 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 united kingdom kept decreasing from 2011 to 2013.
Because the tourism industry has been somewhat floundering in the past few years, the room for error becomes really small for businesses in this industry. The political & economic situations are squeezing tourist-related (TR) businesses in Lebanon. Because of this these businesses are forced to do more to make up for increasing losses (or decreasing profits) and with fewer resources. There is absolutely 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 of these times such as implementing downsizing policies and cutting back on marketing & advertising budgets. When economic recessions and a down economy affect businesses, the first things to get eliminated are usually 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 problem is to take advantage of Social Media Marketing strategies given that they cost little to no resources, ideal for the current economic situation in Lebanon. Social media marketing allows TR businesses to overcome obstacles of limited budgets and decreased business.
Problem Statement
During the past few 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 more likely to recommend and purchase from these brands than non-fans (Cruz & Mendelsohn, 2011). But, Motivational Content don’t need to make sure of social media’s impact on business through research studies. For social media users, which include over 30% of the world, this fact is known. More and more businesses are inserting Social Media marketing tools into their marketing strategies and, sometimes, have even become an integral part of their overall business strategy.
Naturally, you might expect that Lebanese businesses would quickly adopt SOCIAL MEDIA as a key role within their overall marketing strategies but this is not the case. With regards to the Middle East and especially Lebanon, the region is far behind the West in social media marketing usage. Not only that, when it comes to businesses mixed up in tourism industry, there is much room for growth. Little investment in technology is keeping tourist businesses away from maximizing marketing opportunities given by social media.
The Lebanese tourism industry isn’t taking advantage of social media marketing tactics even though the advantages of doing this are apparent. This presents an excellent problem especially because the economy is going through a very rough time.
Moreover, Lebanese TR businesses and businesses in Lebanon generally are not adopting social media tools because they should. This presents an enormous problem in the waste of resources and also significant missed opportunities as a more substantial target audience can be reached via social media enabling businesses that adopt social media marketing tools gain a better chance of success and prosperity