SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 27, 2026--
Future Partners, a travel and tourism research and insights firm, today announced the official launch of FPAI, a groundbreaking artificial intelligence platform to serve as the travel industry’s on-demand insights agent, powered by Future Partners’ proprietary research intelligence.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260727459207/en/
FPAI launched in July 2026, and early-access signups are now open at FuturePartners.com.
“FPAI is how decades of Future Partners' travel and tourism research and analytical expertise finally become accessible to anyone who needs an answer — at 3 a.m. or in a board meeting, in seconds instead of weeks. Every answer it gives reflects years of our team's judgment about what traveler data actually means, so clients get the rigor they've always trusted from us, just delivered instantly instead of over months.”
— Erin Francis Cummings, President & CEO, Future Partners
A New Standard for Travel Intelligence
As AI-powered tools proliferate across the travel marketing landscape, FPAI stands apart from the rest in one fundamental way: the depth and integrity of its underlying data. While other market entrants have rushed to wrap generic or lightly sourced data in a conversational AI interface, FPAI is built on a foundation that simply cannot be replicated overnight.
FPAI draws exclusively from Future Partners’ proprietary syndicated study of American travelers, Global travelers, and Meeting Planners — a longitudinal dataset engineered from the ground up for the travel and tourism industry. The result is an AI tool that doesn’t just answer questions, it surfaces predictive intelligence grounded in real consumer behavior, tracked continuously across time.
Key data differentiators include:
What FPAI Does for Travel & Tourism Teams
FPAI transforms the way destination marketers, brand strategists, hotel sales and marketing teams, and agency partners access and act on traveler intelligence. Through a plain-language conversational interface, any member of a team (regardless of research background) can extract strategic insight in minutes.
Why Data Depth Defines the Difference
The emergence of AI in travel marketing has introduced powerful new tools for the industry. But not all AI tools are created equal, and the quality of intelligence they deliver is only as strong as the data they are trained on.
FPAI is powered by research that was designed specifically for the travel industry, not adapted from general consumer data, third-party aggregates, or limited survey pools. Its longitudinal architecture means the tool doesn’t just describe what happened last quarter; it identifies how traveler sentiment, behavior, and preferences shift across time, enabling genuinely predictive strategy rather than reactive reporting.
Availability & Access
FPAI is available now. Travel and tourism businesses and agencies can sign up for a demo and trial at FuturePartners.com/services/fpai.
About Future Partners
Future Partners is a creative insights firm shaping winning strategies for travel, tourism, and hospitality leaders. We are dedicated to empowering destination and travel marketers with the intelligence they need to make confident, strategic decisions. Through proprietary syndicated research, custom studies, and cutting-edge tools like FPAI, Future Partners helps travel brands and destinations understand American travelers and stay ahead of where they’re going next. Learn more at FuturePartners.com.
The Travel Industry's Insights Agent
SEATTLE (AP) — Police now say there were at least three suspects involved in a shootout at a crowded food festival near Seattle’s Space Needle over the weekend. One of them was among those killed in the violence.
In a document filed in juvenile court in Seattle, where a 15-year-old arrested in the case waived his initial appearance Monday, police said they believe there were at least three shooters, rather than two: the 15-year-old; an acquaintance who died at the scene; and “at least one other unknown suspect.”
“Based on the evidence at the scene, investigators believe” the 15-year-old “and one of the deceased engaged in a gunfight with at least one other unknown suspect,” the document said.
A judge ordered the teen held in juvenile detention for investigation of firearms violations and first-degree assault. The King County prosecutor's office said it expected to receive the case from Seattle police on Wednesday for a charging decision.
The gunfire erupted around 6 p.m. Sunday in the waning hours of the Bite of Seattle, leaving three people dead and at least four others injured. The annual three-day festival draws hundreds of food and retail vendors and performers to Seattle Center, a sprawling park in the shadow of the Space Needle. Many attendees rushed into campus buildings or ran from the park at the sound of the shots.
News that there were at least three suspects followed a series of confusing statements from city officials concerning the shooting.
On Sunday, the police department waited five hours to share with the public that one shooter had been arrested and that they believed another to be on the loose. Earlier, Mayor Katie Wilson had announced two people were in custody, a statement she retracted.
At a news conference before the court hearing Monday, Police Chief Shon Barnes said investigators weren’t sure if the second shooter was among the dead. Neither he nor the mayor made any reference to additional shooters. Barnes had been out of town Sunday, attending a conference of Black law enforcement executives in Dallas.
The officials defended their handling of the case, saying they were trying to ensure they provided accurate information about chaotic events.
The dead were described as two men, ages 19 and 44, and a woman, 56.
The four wounded included a 2-year-old boy, who was in satisfactory condition Monday. The others — two men, ages 23 and 27, and a woman, 39 — were discharged, a hospital spokesperson said.
One of the victims was walking a bicycle when struck, the court document said. The toddler was with his mother.
Vendors were allowed to return to the sprawling campus Monday morning to collect their equipment and merchandise. Skewered squid on grills, roasted ducks in ovens and plates full of food were among the items left behind as people fled the gunfire.
Near the spot of the shooting, a stain of what appeared to be blood was still visible in the morning. A candlelight vigil was planned Monday night at the center’s International Fountain.
Dozens of officers were providing security at the event and some saw one of the suspects firing, authorities said. A large number of police and emergency crews responded and began evacuating the area. Police then searched an IMAX theater on the grounds where they initially believed a second shooter had fled.
Adam Lombardo, who had a Burmese food stand at the festival with his spouse, described the panic of fleeing people as a “stampede.” As he gathered his equipment Monday, he described how police escorted food vendors back to the crime scene to turn off their ovens and stoves.
“It’s really sad because you think that three innocent people aren’t getting up with their families,” he said. “They just came to enjoy a food festival with people, with friends, with new friends, and they lost their lives in just what sounds like meaningless bloodshed.”
Festival attendee Faith Adia Hunter said she and her friends had just gotten food from a crepe vendor when gunfire broke out. They ran into the nearby Seattle Children’s Museum.
“We were about to start eating, then heard someone yell something, then we saw people start to run,” Hunter said. “So we took off running, too.”
Estan Wakonabo said he and his girlfriend were waiting in line for a photo booth when he was shoved from behind.
“People were hiding, were pushing, people were falling on the ground, baby strollers were falling,” Wakonabo said.
The festival started in 1982 and draws 350,000 attendees, according to its website.
Associated Press journalists Manuel Valdes and Lindsey Wasson in Seattle, Annika Wolters in Bangkok and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
The U.S. flag flies at half staff at the Space Needle as cleanup continues the day after a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A worker cleans blood off the pavement the day after a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
The U.S. flag flies at half staff as cleanup continues at the Space Needle the day after a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A man walks near the scene, a day after a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A Seattle Police officer sets up police line tape at the site of a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
An unidentified man is led into the scene by police after they responded to a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, center, speaks at a news conference after a shooting at the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Police respond to a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
An unidentified man is led into the scene by police after they responded to a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A Seattle Police officer walks through tents with colorful toys at the scene of a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A crime scene photographer arrives as law enforcement examines the scene following a shooting at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
