4 Top Travel Incentive Trends

July 17, 2024

A new snapshot report from SITE explores the top travel incentive trends and practices today’s incentive travel and motivational event professionals say they are facing now.

The Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) has dropped a new snapshot report that outlines some of the top trends on the minds of incentive travel and motivational event professionals are seeing in their work right now. The research, supported by Hilton, reflects the experiences and opinions of 79 experienced, full-time global corporate event organizers, half of whom have been in the incentive event industry for 20 years or more.

4 Top Travel Incentive Trends

Biggest concerns: About 95% said their top challenges right now are rising costs and inflation, while almost half are concerned about global instability from elections being held this year in the U.S. and globally.

Also worrisome to a much lesser degree was the lack of real internal support from their senior leadership teams and a lack of talent/too many new and untrained employees, which both were a concern for around 23%. Layoffs that could affect either their own organization or the wider sector they serve also were on the minds of 21%, while another 18% were feeling a growing urgency around climate change and climate justice.

Destination selection criteria: When these planners were asked to assign a value of 1-10 (with 1 being not important to 10 being a must-have), not surprisingly, the top criteria for destination selection were destination appeal, which came in with a ranking just under 7 out of 10. Infrastructure also is a key destination selection criteria, coming in at 6 out of 10. These were followed by connectivity, at 5.64; safety, health and security, at 5.59; value for the money (5.03); support services (3.44), and financial support (1.99). At the bottom of the list was an affiliate office, at 1.47 out of 10.

At the top of the must-have list was that all would be treated equally with respect, followed by luxury, 5-star accommodations and the ability to cater to all generations. The must-have list was rounded out by resort/leisure; city/culture; outdoor/hiking/healthy; accessible by car/train; and sustainability.

Among the negatives that would affect their destination selection and/or the success of their incentive events were factors concerning participants’ physical safety and security, as well as the potential impacts of extreme weather and their ability to safeguard qualifiers. In-destination sociopolitical stability also could be a factor, they said.

Key Supplier/Partners: The respondents were clear that the preferred supplier partners they considered to be mission-critical were destination management companies (DMCs) and hotel reps/sales directors, followed by event agencies. Further down the list were talent and entertainment agencies and AV companies, with local affiliate office or branch and national tourist board/destination marketing organization (DMO) just considered crucial by 5% and 15, respectively.

Where to Make New Connections: Eighty-three percent said they meet new connections and strengthen existing industry relationships at event industry trade shows, while another 67% said personal recommendations were key ways to find new connections. Fam trips also came up high on the list at 62%, as did online research (54%), association events (51%) and DMOs (41%). Media/press and social media outreach were at the bottom of the list at just 9% each.

Planner Snapshot

With 80% saying they had more than 10 years of industry experience and another 20% having obtained industry-specific credentials such as a CMP, CITP or CIS, this experienced group of planners mostly said they had taken a roundabout route to their career. Almost a quarter said their formal higher education courses of study had no direct connection to their current role, instead coming from educational backgrounds in marketing and communication, commerce and business, the humanities, language and history.

More than a quarter said they primarily report to the head of marketing in their organization, while 24% said they report directly to their company’s CEO, which may be an indication of the increasing role of incentive events to the corporate market.

SITE CEO Annette Gregg emphasized the importance of continuing research into the drivers of incentive travel and motivational events, saying, “In today’s dynamic and rapidly changing event landscape, staying informed through data-driven insights is more critical than ever. Our latest study offers a detailed view of what’s on the minds of industry professionals who are responsible for creating memorable and effective incentive travel programs.”