The Impact of SOCIAL MEDIA on Tourism

Lebanon’s area is ranked 170th on the planet (CIA, 2014). It is smaller than the size of Connecticut, one of many smallest states in in America. 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 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 center East to Europe, North Africa, and the rest of the world. Because of this, 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 in the world. Christians, Muslims, Druze, and other minority sects are spread all around 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 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’s 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 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 a service-based economy, this particular sector has taken the largest hit.

Tourism plays a significant role in the country’s economy. According to Social Media Management agency of Economy & Trade (MOET), “Tourism is definitely among 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). That is because of the political situation in the country as well as some other factors. Moreover, the quantity of tourist arrivals in the united kingdom kept decreasing from 2011 to 2013.

Since the tourism industry has been somewhat floundering in the past few years, the room for error becomes very 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 make up for increasing losses (or decreasing profits) and with fewer resources. There is no telling when the political & economy 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 implementing downsizing policies and reducing on marketing & advertising budgets. When economic recessions and tough times affect businesses, the first what to get eliminated are often marketing budgets. But especially since TR businesses should do more marketing to make up for lost businesses, this may not be a good idea.

One solution to this issue 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 particular brand are much more likely to recommend and purchase from these brands than non-fans (Cruz & Mendelsohn, 2011). But, we don’t need to make sure of social media’s effect on business through clinical tests. For social media users, which include over 30% of the world, this fact is known. A growing number of businesses are inserting Social media tools to their marketing strategies and, in some cases, 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 simply not the case. With regards to the Middle East and especially Lebanon, the spot is far behind the West in social media marketing usage. Not only that, when it comes to businesses involved in the 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 is not 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 by way of a very rough time.

Moreover, Lebanese TR businesses and businesses in Lebanon in general are not adopting social media marketing tools as they should. This presents a huge 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