Lebanon’s area is ranked 170th on earth (CIA, 2014). It is smaller compared to the size of Connecticut, among the smallest states in in America. Moreover, Lebanon is one of the few democratic countries in the Middle East region. Regarding its economy, Lebanon is really a free market economy and has a very long tradition of laissez-faire economics. Along with its coastal location on the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Lebanon is considered as the central ‘window’ of the center East to Europe, North Africa, and all of those other world. For this reason, 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 globe. Christians, Muslims, Druze, along with 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 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 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 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 united states have significantly hurt the country’s economy. Also, since Lebanon is a service-based economy, this particular 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 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 because of the political situation in the united kingdom as well as some other factors. Moreover, the amount 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 room for error becomes very 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 do 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 for example 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 need to do more marketing to create up for lost businesses, it isn’t really a good idea.

One solution to this problem is to take advantage of Social Media Marketing strategies given that 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 few 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 purchase from these brands than non-fans (Cruz & Mendelsohn, 2011). But, we won’t need to make sure of social media’s impact on business through clinical tests. For social media users, such as over 30% of the planet, this fact is known. Personal Development are inserting Social media tools to 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 as a key role in their overall marketing strategies but this is 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’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. This presents an excellent problem especially because the economy is going through 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 a huge problem in the waste of resources together with significant missed opportunities as a larger target audience could be reached via social media marketing enabling businesses that adopt social media tools gain a better chance of success and prosperity