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 among the few democratic countries in the centre East region. Regarding its economy, Lebanon is a free market economy and has 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 Middle 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, it is also one of the diverse nations on the planet. 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 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’s 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 because of its own selfish ends.
The sad political realities of the country have significantly hurt the country’s economy. Also, since Motivational Content is really a service-based economy, this specific sector has taken the biggest hit.
Tourism plays a significant role in the country’s economy. In line with the Lebanese Ministry of Economy & Trade (MOET), “Tourism has long been 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 due to the political situation in the country as well as various other factors. Moreover, the quantity of tourist arrivals in the united kingdom kept decreasing from 2011 to 2013.
Because the tourism industry has been somewhat floundering before 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 accomplish more to make up for increasing losses (or decreasing profits) and with fewer resources. There is absolutely no telling when the political & economy 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 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 make up for lost businesses, this may not be a good idea.
One solution to this issue is to benefit from Social Media Marketing strategies since they cost little to no resources, ideal for the current economic situation in Lebanon. Social media 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 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 effect on business through research studies. For social media users, which include over 30% of the planet, this fact is known. More and more businesses are inserting Social media tools into their marketing strategies and, in some cases, 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 not the case. With regards to the center East and especially Lebanon, the spot is far behind the West in social media marketing usage. Not only that, when it comes to businesses mixed up in tourism industry, there is much room for growth. Little investment in technology is keeping tourist businesses away 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 a great problem especially since 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 and also significant missed opportunities as a more substantial target audience could be reached via social media marketing enabling businesses that adopt social media tools gain a better chance of success and prosperity