Partner Concepts

1. List the name of the ASP organization, the reason for its selection and the names and responsibilities of the client representatives you have contacted.

Launched in 2002, Partner Concepts, LLC, is a full-service travel-marketing firm headquartered just outside of Washington, D.C. in Annapolis, Maryland. It has 24 full-time employees and several contractors to support the full- time staff located in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, New York, Shanghai, Beijing, Hanoi and Bangkok.

Partner Concepts has a dynamic and productive team with seasoned marketing professionals who are experienced in national tourism offices, international airlines, travel industry associations, financial services, and major media organizations. They also share a passion for telling fun stories of major destinations in the world in an effort to attract more traffic and generate quantifiable results for those places.

Mr. Paul Cohen, Principal and Co-founder of Partner Concepts, is a regular guest speaker at the George Washington University School of Business Tourism Programs. His company was chosen for this project based on conversations which determined a need for a strategic vision to expand international travel to Asian markets.

2. Summarize the critical issue to be addressed for your organizational client: (a) describe the current and desired future states, (b) explain why the latter is an outcome or an output closely related to an outcome, (c) list relevant background information on the client and the issue.

The critical issue for Partner Concepts is to sustain its position in the tourism marketing industry while expanding its coverage to include new found tourist destinations in China.

Currently Partner Concepts markets major cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, as standard tourist destinations to the US consumer. American outbound travel to China is steadily growing resulting in its tourism market becoming increasingly competitive offering more choices and opportunities. Hosting the 2008 Olympics and sustained media coverage of China has made Americans more aware of the cultural experiences that China has to offer yet this awareness does not account for smaller cities within China. Partner Concepts has since become familiar with other destinations in the country which are rather popular amongst Chinese nationals. Cities such as Sanya, Haikou or Urumqi, albeit smaller and lesser known then Hong Kong or Beijing, offer an abundance of cultural experiences, crafts and a view of the Chinese lifestyle providing "a historical perspective and deep understanding of Chinese contributions to civilization" (Silk Road, 2010). Working exclusively with the National Tourism Administration of the People's Republic of China (CNTA), Partner Concepts has extensive reach and access into these regions. Based on their intimate working relationship with CNTA, Partner Concepts feels it has no US competition