US ready for return of incentive travel, research reveals
Incentive professionals and programme participants are overwhelmingly ready to resume travel and in-person events, according to a new report published by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF).
The report comes hot on the heels of a study released by The SITE Foundation, which found that corporate America is bullish on incentive travel.
Corporate inSITEs, the Foundation’s qualitative survey of 50 US corporations, revealed that 94 percent of top US corporations remain 100 percent committed to incentive travel despite disruption caused by the pandemic.
To create its report, IRF gathered a group of incentive professionals from across the US who met in person in Palm Beach to discuss the factors that are driving buyer decisions. The group participated in facilitated roundtable discussions, sharing their insights from their own perspective as well as that of their clients.
The report concluded that we are at a tipping point with incentive travel, particularly in the United States where more than half of the population has received at least one vaccine shot.
“Incentive professionals and programme participants are overwhelmingly ready to resume travel and in-person events. CEOs are not far behind, and corporate travel bans are beginning to be removed. We are trending toward fewer barriers to moving forward with travel incentive programmes,” the report stated.
Smaller incentive programmes have already taken place, and several incentive professionals noted they have larger programmes scheduled as early as June.
For employers, reputational risk is driving the decisions about incentive travel in many cases – some are concerned about moving too quickly, while others are concerned about not moving quickly enough.
For the time being, planners will have to navigate new requirements, restrictions, and limitations. Having COVID protocols such as mandatory pre-event testing in place plus strong pre-event communications were cited as important to creating a sense of comfort and confidence in attending the programme.
Pre-event communications must establish clear expectations that encompass the entire journey, including what to expect with air travel, onsite health and safety information, event announcements, and local regulations. The report recommends partnering with CVBs, DMCs and DMOs to get clarity around what is possible within their market in the current landscape.
Other elements that incentive professionals indicated clients were considering in making destination decisions included:
· Destinations with good lift given the route reductions airlines made over the last 15 months
· Ample outdoor space for events, and ample doors, windows and ventilation for indoor spaces
· Venues where the organisation can do a full buyout and have spread out and controlled spaces
The report also found that there is currently compression particularly among US destinations that are in high demand for leisure and incentive travellers. The expectation among the group is that we will see a return business as usual relative to rates and availability in late 2022.