Lebanon’s area is ranked 170th on the planet (CIA, 2014). It is smaller than the size of Connecticut, one of the smallest states in in the us. Moreover, Lebanon is probably 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. 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 one of the diverse nations on the planet. Christians, Muslims, Druze, along with other minority sects are spread all over the small nation and even 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 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 country 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 nation’s economy. In line with the Lebanese Ministry of Economy & Trade (MOET), “Tourism has long been 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 due to the political situation in the country as well as some other factors. Moreover, the number 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 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 create up for increasing losses (or decreasing profits) sufficient reason for fewer resources. There is no telling when the political & economic situation in Lebanon will improve especially because 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 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 issue is to take full advantage of Social Media Marketing strategies given that they cost little to no resources, ideal for the current economy in Lebanon. Social media marketing allows TR businesses to overcome obstacles of limited budgets and decreased business.

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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 buy 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 research studies. For social media users, which include over 30% of the planet, this fact is known. A growing number of businesses are inserting Social Media marketing tools into 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 within 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, in terms of businesses mixed up in tourism industry, there is 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 marketing tactics even though the advantages 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 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 marketing enabling businesses that adopt social media marketing tools gain a better chance of success and prosperity