HONOLULU, HAWAII (April 6, 2010)—The Hawaii SBA (Small Business Administration) has selected PRTech LLC, a Honolulu-based, multilingual marketing firm and software/website developer specializing in increasing clients’ Asian traveler market share, as the 2010 U.S. Small Business Administration’s State of Hawaii “Small Business Exporter of the Year.”  The prestigious award honors individuals and companies owning or operating a small business engaged in exporting products or services outside of the United States.

“The selection of PRTech as an “Exporter of the Year” directly supports the new NEI (National Export Initiative) defining tourism and service industries as exports and a means to boost America’s economy,” said Dave Erdman, president and founder of PRTech and its sister company, PacRim Marketing Group.  “Hawaii’s SBA has recognized the importance of acknowledging tourism as the number one industry that can help drive the economy, which is significant since our national government has just established the Travel Promotion Act, the first ever U.S. promotion and communications program aimed at travelers from other countries.”

At a ceremony on the floor of the Hawaii State Senate, Erdman was honored for working closely with businesses to position them for their initial presence in Asia via exporting their brands through online solutions and communications platforms facilitating pre-arrival reservations bookings and marketing in Asian languages.  PRTech was recognized as being first to market with innovative tools to expand exporting—creating skilled jobs and helping U.S. and Hawaii hotels and businesses attract and capture greater share of traveler spending from Asia.     

Under Erdman’s guidance, PRTech has pioneered Asian language (Japanese, Korean, and Chinese) online marketing communications channels and technology platforms to drive business from Asia.  PRTech’s flagship product, MyRez 2.0, a multilingual reservations booking system, helps businesses use the Internet to increase online revenue and reduce costs.  PRTech also leverages sister company PacRim Marketing Group’s twenty years experience marketing to Asian travelers to create traditional and non-traditional public relations, advertising, and high impact branding products such as multilingual podcasts, interactive web portals, mobile marketing and websites.    
 
PRTech was nominated by Galileo Tan, a Business Banking Officer at Central Pacific Bank—for which PRTech created Japanese and Korean websites initially geared toward travelers.  Central Pacific Bank recognized PRTech for being, “very instrumental in helping local businesses in Hawaii broaden their client base throughout Asia-Pacific.  The company has been able to accomplish this by improving upon existing Internet based technologies, as well as creating new technologies.  PRTech’s efforts in developing and exporting multilingual online products and communications platforms have resulted in increased business for its clients.  These efforts have also allowed visitors to have a relatively easy experience in planning their trips and vacations.  These results are much appreciated, especially during the current, tough economic climate, whose effects have reached Hawaii.”

Established as an ACT 221 company in 2004, PRTech has been recognized as one of Hawaii’s fastest growing technology firms for the past two years by Pacific Business News.  PRTech employs 17 full time marketing and technology specialists, a majority of them Japanese, Korean, or Chinese nationals.  The company also leverages the resources of PacRim Marketing Tokyo KK, its Asia-Pacific headquarters located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.  For more information, go to www.PRTech.com.