The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Tourism

Lebanon’s area is ranked 170th on earth (CIA, 2014). It is smaller compared to the size of Connecticut, one of 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 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 considered as the central ‘window’ of the Middle East to Europe, North Africa, and all of those other world. Due to this, its economy has gone 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, it is also just about the most diverse nations on the globe. Christians, Muslims, Druze, and other minority sects are spread all over the small nation and also 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 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 rather than 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 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 country’s economy. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Economy & Trade (MOET), “Tourism is definitely 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 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 country as well as some 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 room 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 accomplish more to make up for increasing losses (or decreasing profits) and with fewer resources. There is 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 techniques Lebanese TR businesses can adapt during 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 should do more marketing to create up for lost businesses, it isn’t really a good idea.

One solution to this issue is to take full advantage 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 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 research studies. For social media users, such as over 30% of the world, this fact is known. A growing number of businesses are inserting Social media tools into their marketing strategies and, occasionally, have even become an integral part of their overall business strategy.

Naturally, one would expect that Lebanese businesses would quickly adopt Social Media Marketing as a key role in their overall marketing strategies but this is not the case. When it comes to the Middle East and especially Lebanon, the region is far behind the West in social media marketing usage. Motivational Content 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 marketing 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 marketing tools as they should. This presents an enormous problem in the waste of resources together with significant missed opportunities as a more substantial target audience could be reached via social media enabling businesses that adopt social media marketing tools gain a better chance of success and prosperity