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 many 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 a very long tradition of laissez-faire economics. In addition to its coastal location on the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Lebanon is recognized as the central ‘window’ of the center East to Europe, North Africa, and all of those other world. For this reason, 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 Luxury Travel Guides is tiny, it is also just about the most diverse nations in the world. Christians, Muslims, Druze, along with other minority sects are spread all over the small nation and even Lebanon’s political system is based 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 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 for its own selfish ends.

The sad political realities of the united states have significantly hurt the country’s economy. Also, since Lebanon is really a service-based economy, this particular sector has taken the largest hit.

Tourism plays a substantial role in the country’s economy. Based on 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 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 united kingdom as well as various other factors. Moreover, the quantity of tourist arrivals in the country kept decreasing from 2011 to 2013.

Because 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. Which means that these businesses are forced to do 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 ways that Lebanese TR businesses can adapt during 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 often marketing budgets. But especially since TR businesses need to do more marketing to make up for lost businesses, it isn’t really 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 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 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, which include over 30% of the planet, this fact is known. Increasingly more businesses are inserting Social media 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 Marketing as a key role within their overall marketing strategies but this is not the case. In terms of the Middle East and especially Lebanon, the region is far behind the West in social media marketing usage. Not only that, with regards to businesses mixed up in tourism industry, there is much room for growth. Little investment in technology is keeping tourist businesses from maximizing marketing opportunities given by social media.

The Lebanese tourism industry is not taking advantage of social media marketing tactics even though the benefits 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 because they should. This presents an enormous problem in the waste of resources and significant missed opportunities as a larger target audience can be reached via social media enabling businesses that adopt social media marketing tools gain a better potential for success and prosperity

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