The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Tourism

Lebanon’s area is ranked 170th on the planet (CIA, 2014). It really is smaller compared to the size of Connecticut, one of the smallest states in in America. Moreover, Lebanon is one of 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. Besides 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. Because of this, its economy went through some very prosperous times and was even once called the ‘Paris’ of the Middle East before the nation’s 15 year-long bloody civil war which ended in 1990.

Also, although Lebanon is tiny, additionally it is one of the most diverse nations on earth. Christians, Muslims, Druze, and other minority sects are spread all around 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. Lifestyle Enhancement 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 for its own selfish ends.

The sad political realities of the united states have significantly hurt the country’s economy. Also, since Lebanon is a service-based economy, this particular 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 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). That is because of the political situation in the country as well as various other factors. Moreover, the number 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. This means that these businesses are forced to do more to create up for increasing losses (or decreasing profits) and with fewer resources. There is absolutely no telling when the political & economic situation in Lebanon will improve especially since the civil war in neighboring Syria shows no signs of abating.

There are many ways that Lebanese TR businesses can adapt of these times such as for example 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 often marketing budgets. But especially since TR businesses should do more marketing to create up for lost businesses, it isn’t really a good idea.

One solution to this problem 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 won’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 planet, this fact is known. An increasing number of businesses are inserting Social Media marketing tools into their marketing strategies and, in some instances, have even become a fundamental element 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 simply not the case. In terms of the center East and especially Lebanon, the spot is far behind the West in social media marketing 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 away from maximizing marketing opportunities distributed by social media.

The Lebanese tourism industry isn’t taking advantage of social media tactics even though the benefits of doing this are apparent. This presents an excellent problem especially since the economy is going through a very rough time.

Moreover, Lebanese TR businesses and businesses in Lebanon generally are not adopting social media tools as they should. This presents a huge problem in the waste of resources in addition to 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