Tourism Strategic Planning
ESI and Parter International: Partners in Tourism Strategic Planning
Econsult Solutions, Inc. (ESI) and Parter International, Inc. offer collaborative strategic planning services to help enhance and develop tourism attractions; events; infrastructure; marketing; and organizational efficiency, resulting in a significant impact on the economic well-being of tourism destinations and attractions. At a time of unprecedented challenges in the travel industry, our team brings wide-ranging experience, data-driven insights, and a collaborative approach to help address tourism and travel challenges.
Our Services
Our collective suite of tourism strategic planning services includes:
- Destination attraction and infrastructure evaluation
- Project and program feasibility analysis and implementation
- Tourism promotion organizational structure, funding and advocacy
- Marketing and promotional analysis and strategy
- Research and insights regarding comparables, industry trends, and thought leadership
- Identification and implementation of appropriate best practices
- SWOT & GAP analysis
- Economic impact and performance tracking
Philadelphia Strategic Tourism Planning and Tracking
Parter International was retained by the Pew Charitable Trusts to develop a strategic tourism plan for the City of Philadelphia and to help implement the plan’s two major recommendations: the creation of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (now Visit Philadelphia) and the initial phase of the development of the Independence Visitor Center. Parter and ESI have been retained to conduct a number of subsequent tourism assignments for Philadelphia and ESI is currently retained by Visit Philadelphia to quantify the level of economic impact and visitation to the region, which has seen a doubling in overnight leisure visitation since the implementation of the original plans recommendations.
Houston First Corporation: Strategic Tourism Plan
Houston First Corporation retained Parter International and ESI to prepare a Strategic Tourism Plan for Houston and the 29-county region in order to grow the region’s image as a tourism destination and ensure that leisure tourism is a major economic contributor. The consulting team suggested a short, medium, and long-term implementation strategies, and was retained to help implement these recommendations. Houston has seen a dramatic increase in visitation from 14.8 million visitors in 2014 when the study began to 22.3 million in 2018.
Ocean City, New Jersey Economic Development Strategies
ESI and Parter International were commissioned to provide economic development strategies for Ocean City, New Jersey focusing on the area’s tourism economy. The team analyzed Ocean City’s demographic and economic trends to understand how its experience and identity as a family resort destination had evolved over time. Our report outlined the key takeaways from its analysis and put forth a number of recommendations for key stakeholders that addressed Ocean City’s specific strengths and needs in the context of local and national economic changes.
Our Approach
Our partnership capitalizes on the complementary skills of the two firms. ESI brings a rigorous data-driven approach to all of our engagements and a robust set of economic and fiscal modeling capabilities. Parter International brings a wealth of experience in tourism promotion and economic development, specializing in qualitative research through site evaluations; personal interviews and focus groups; and strategy sessions. ESI and Parter International have completed a range of tourism projects around the country.
In addition to our depth of consulting experience, firm principals at both ESI and Parter International have hands on experience working for government, destination promotion and economic development organizations. Our firm principals are directly engaged in each project, from client and stakeholder interviews, strategy sessions and analysis to recommendations and implementation. Our vast experience ensures that we understand and advance the objectives of destinations and regions through a creative lens and allows our team to hit the ground running resulting in an expedited assignment.
This approach has helped our clients achieve documented results through increases in visitation and economic impact to their destinations.
Attraction Feasibility and Impact Study
ESI and Parter International are currently working with a non-profit organization to examine the operational feasibility and economic impact, and fiscal return of several potential new tourist attraction concepts.
Strategic Heritage Tourism Plan for the County and City of Lancaster, PA
Parter International and ESI prepared a strategic tourism development plan for Lancaster County, which included a focused tourism strategy for the City of Lancaster.
Travel and Tourism Industry: Assessing your Circumstances and Preparing for Recovery
ESI & Parter International present a three-part blog series on how tourism destinations can best position themselves for recovery from COVID-19.
Our Clients
