The Incentive Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds research and fosters education on all aspects of the incentive travel industry, has identified 10 trends that will help users understand what’s in store for the future. Changes include growth in international destinations, self-defining experiences, and new tools and strategies that include stronger partnerships and mobile tools. IRF President Melissa Van Dyke summarizes these 10 trends in a short webinar presentation that can be accessed on the organization’s website, TheIRF.org.
The economy’s influence is positive. An IRF Fall 2014 Pulse Survey showed that 67 percent of incentive travel planners found the economy to have a positive impact on incentive travel.
Incentive travel budgets are back. Almost 50 percent of planners responded to the Fall 2014 survey said they will be increasing their budgets headed into 2015. Additionally, per-person spend is up significantly from the same time last year, with an average of $3,440 per person. More than 25 percent of corporate buyers said their budgets will exceed $4,000 per person in 2015.
International programs are on the rebound.
For the first time since the recession, more planners are considering international destinations over domestic ones.
More robust programs. We’re entering a phase that has been called the “experience economy,” in which more robust experiences are desired by program sponsors. Less than 10 percent of planners will reduce the number of nights or rooms for their programs in 2015. Twenty percent are planning to move to all-inclusive resorts and 15 percent are increasing on-site inclusions.
Self-defining experiences. Planners are looking to satisfy different age groups with venues and lodging that afford multiple options. People under age 35 prefer experiences that are unusual and unattainable events, while people over 45 like more familiar experiences. That leads to seeking venues that provide varying options.
There’s an app for everything. Attendees are taking more control of their experience, with or without the assistance of program planners. The stark rise in event-specific mobile apps has helped planners reduce paper programs and provide needed data on demand.
Wellness. It’s no longer an option, it’s an expectation. Recent IRF research shows that 30 percent of planners put a focus on wellness. Examples include spa treatments, aromatherapy and exotic meal menus.
Disruption as a constant state. Natural disasters, terrorist activities, diseases, weather changes and other unpredictable factors are putting new demands on travel providers like never before. Risk mitigation is essential to success. Finding new and creative ways to mitigate these risks is going to be a key travel differentiator for third-party providers going forward. One result is the growing strength of DMCs in travel planning partnerships. They are serving as key allies when weather disasters or political unrest hits.
CEOs need to grow and retain talent. Eighty-one percent of CEOs in a PriceWaterhouse Cooper survey said they were concentrating on talent, but 61 percent had not taken the first step to change their current approach, and only one-third felt that HR was prepared to help them. Incentive travel offers key retention and education benefits to address this challenge.
Engaged in what? Engagement as a concept originally meant to be engaging employees in their core workplace roles. In the new economy, successful organizations have found they need their employees to perform many non-core roles — trainers, brand advocates, innovators, change agents. Reward and recognition programs are more flexible tools for driving non-core job roles.
