Lebanon’s area is ranked 170th in the world (CIA, 2014). It really is smaller compared to the size of Connecticut, one of many smallest states in in the us. Moreover, Lebanon is probably the few democratic countries in the centre East region. Regarding its economy, Lebanon is really a free market economy and has a very 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. Due to 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 just about the most diverse nations on the planet. 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 country’s problems. This diversity was a necessary condition of the country’s sectarian civil war and currently plays a significant role in its political paralysis, although other factors (mainly foreign) are at fault 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 managed to get a foreign policy/proxy battleground for foreign nations, each using Lebanon because of 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 specific 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, 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 because of the political situation in the united kingdom 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 very small for businesses in this industry. The political & economic situations are squeezing tourist-related (TR) businesses in Lebanon. Therefore these businesses are forced to accomplish more to create up for increasing losses (or decreasing profits) sufficient reason for fewer resources. There is absolutely no telling once the political & economic situation 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 for example implementing downsizing policies and cutting back 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 create up for lost businesses, this may not be a good idea.
One solution to this issue 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 couple of years, the positive effect of social media 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 particular brand are much 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 research studies. For social media users, which include 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. When it comes to 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 involved in the tourism industry, there’s much room for growth. Little investment in technology is keeping tourist businesses from maximizing marketing opportunities distributed by social media.
The Lebanese tourism industry is not taking advantage of social media tactics even though the advantages of doing so are apparent. Lifestyle Enhancement presents a great problem especially because the economy is going by way of a very rough time.
Moreover, Lebanese TR businesses and businesses in Lebanon generally are not adopting social media tools because they should. This presents a huge problem in the waste of resources together with significant missed opportunities as a larger target audience could be reached via social media enabling businesses that adopt social media tools gain a better potential for success and prosperity
