Lebanon’s area is ranked 170th on the planet (CIA, 2014). It is smaller than the size of Connecticut, among the smallest states in in the us. Moreover, Lebanon is one of the few democratic countries in the centre East region. Regarding its economy, Lebanon is a free market economy and contains an extremely long tradition of laissez-faire economics. Besides its coastal location on the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Lebanon is considered as the central ‘window’ of the center East to Europe, North Africa, and the rest of the world. Due to this, its economy went through some very prosperous times and was even once called the ‘Paris’ of the Middle East prior to the nation’s 15 year-long bloody civil war which ended in 1990.
Also, although Lebanon is tiny, additionally it is one of the diverse nations on earth. Christians, Muslims, Druze, along with other minority sects are spread all over the small nation and also Lebanon’s political system is based 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 really a service-based economy, this particular sector has taken the biggest hit.
Tourism plays a substantial role in the nation’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, Luxury Travel Tip & 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 because of the political situation in the country 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 room for error becomes really small for businesses in this industry. The political & economic situations are squeezing tourist-related (TR) businesses in Lebanon. Which means that these businesses are forced to accomplish more to create up for increasing losses (or decreasing profits) sufficient reason for fewer resources. There is no telling once the political & economy in Lebanon will improve especially since 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 reducing on marketing & advertising budgets. When economic recessions and a down economy affect businesses, the first what 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 full advantage of Social Media Marketing strategies given that they cost little to no resources, perfect 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, we won’t need to make certain of social media’s effect on business through clinical tests. For social media users, such as over 30% of the world, this fact is known. A growing number of businesses are inserting Social Media marketing tools into their marketing strategies and, in some cases, have even become a fundamental element of their overall business strategy.
Naturally, one would expect that Lebanese businesses would quickly adopt Social Media Marketing as a key role within their overall marketing strategies but this is not the case. In terms of the center East and especially Lebanon, the region is far behind the West in social media marketing usage. Not only that, in terms of 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 distributed by social media.
The Lebanese tourism industry isn’t taking advantage of social media 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 in general are not adopting social media marketing tools because they should. This presents an enormous problem in the waste of resources together with significant missed opportunities as a more substantial target audience can be reached via social media marketing enabling businesses that adopt social media marketing tools gain a better potential for success and prosperity