Travel and experiential incentives – proven to be one of the best ways to motivate and reward teams – are being reimagined to address ongoing restrictions caused by the global coronavirus pandemic…

Setting the scene 

Covid-19 has impacted almost every element of the way corporate companies do business, including how they incentivise and reward their employees and associates.

Over the last few years – in line with the increasing proportion of millennials entering the workforce and the growth of the “experience economy” – there had been a clear shift away from monetary rewards to travel and experiential programmes.

Travel was one of the most popular and fastest-growing motivational tools for sales and other employees, according to surveys by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) in 2018 and 2019.

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has had a huge impact on the incentive travel sector with global averages for 2020 at 23% of the 2019 levels – that’s a 77% fall in activity according to the 2020 Incentive Travel Industry Index (IITI). Lockdowns, travel restrictions, quarantines and social distancing have made group incentive travel incredibly difficult to implement.

And incentives have arguably been hit harder than other types of business events because it has not been as easy to pivot to digital solutions. Many meetings, conferences, trade shows, product launches, even award ceremonies, were reimagined for virtual formats in 2020.

Positive long-term outlook

The good news is that interest in travel experiences not only remains high among incentive programme participants, but these experiences are associated with strong engagement levels according to a recent study by the IRF. The research, which explores the rewards employees prefer the most and whether that has changed due to Covid, shows only slight changes in preferences toward incentive travel – participants showed a slight preference toward more regional experiences and those that require less interaction with others.

The 2020 ITII also reveals that the impact of Covid is temporary, with incentive travel predicted to make a full recovery – globally business is expected to bounce back to 59% of 2019 levels in 2021 and 88% in 2022, before a full recovery in 2023. Absolute Corporate Events owner and director Chris Parnham says: “Incentive travel will come back as it was in time because it’s a tried and tested solution for motivating large groups of sales’ people and has been proven to work by many studies. But there is a large void between now and when it does come back.”

Eventful managing director Caroline Lumgair agrees that group travel will come back but says clients need alternative solutions in the meantime, adding that “motivating and rewarding employees is more important than ever during these challenging times.”

Across the world, employees have been forced to work remotely, with companies in some industry sectors are making redundancies due to the economic impact of the pandemic. This ongoing uncertainty combined with the lack of structure of working at home could lead to a slump in productivity. Employers need incentive programmes to re-energise and motivate remote teams and fuel the post-pandemic economic recovery.

Of course, there are a number of other rewards available, from cash and retail vouchers, through to gifting and extra time off. But these are generally not as effective for both motivating and engaging incentive qualifiers. SITE GB president & director of BLACK BOOK Elliott Grant says: “A group trip with colleagues is an experience shared, a long-lasting memory that bonds the individuals on that trip. Financial reward will be spent quickly and forgotten, a holiday with a partner whilst luxurious and spoiling, will be one of many. But a trip with the person who sits next to you, that’s a priceless experience that does more to cement a team ethos than any financial reward could do.”

Filling the void

If alternative rewards are not as effective as travel, and as Parnham predicts, there is a void between now and when group travel incentives can safely return, what’s the solution in the meantime? Eventful’s Lumgair believes individual reward trips are the answer. The agency is among a number of businesses in the incentive sector that have launched individual travel rewards, including luxury hotel brands such as Rosewood, Iconic Luxury Hotels, Sandals and Melia Hotels International.

Eventful has partnered with some of the UK’s top luxury hotels, including Gleneagles, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, The Dorchester and Rosewood London, to launch Eventful Experiences. “We believe that independent incentive travel will be the direction that the industry will follow for the foreseeable future,” says Lumgair. “We have curated a collection of luxury hotel experiences, exclusive to Eventful, which will be available to purchase as gift certificates to reward top achievers, in place of group incentives and rewards.”

Rosewood meanwhile has launched pre-paid reward vouchers for incentive programmes, and is offering agencies 5% or 10% commission, and corporate clients a 5% or 10% rebate, depending on total spend, with winners able to redeem the certificates at the brand’s properties at a time that suits them.

“We spoke to lots of clients and agencies before launching the scheme and there was a real interest and demand for alternatives to group incentive travel. There are lots of industries that still need to motivate teams to hit their sales targets. But we just don’t know at the moment when group travel will come back, so this is a way around that.” says Lisa Selvin Aparicio, director of global sales, UK, at Rosewood. 

Virtual incentives

Aside from individual travel rewards, there are a plethora of online experiences available that are being used to entertain remote workers, encourage teambuilding, and in some cases replace a physical experience or trip during lockdowns, to varying degrees of success. From virtual cookery classes and cocktail mixing, to disco yoga and online escape rooms, there is something for everyone.

DMCs and event agencies have been innovating too – putting together programmes of tailor-made activities to replace incentive trips, many of which include a ‘physical element’ through deliveries and gifts to enhance the sense of shared experience and boost engagement. For example, Ovation DMC launched a Virtual Incentive Experience for Spain – which aims to indulge participants while guiding them through a truly Spanish journey. It includes a week of virtual Spanish experiences themed around gastronomy, music and arts and culture, including physical gifts, live streaming activities and on demand content activities. 

Strata Creative Communications transformed a planned trip to the Lake District, for one client into a jam-packed weekend of experiences, delivered through virtual hosts and guest speakers. As well as the online virtual activities, gift boxes – each worth up to £1k – were delivered ahead of the weekend, providing the winners with anything and everything they would need to partake in each activity.”

When a client’s trip to South Africa was postponed due to lockdown, Lime Blue Solutions and DMC partner Green Route Africa treated incentive winners to the next best thing – a virtual safari experience at the Shamwari Game Reserve from the comfort of their own homes.

“A virtual safari is a really good alternative for any company that is looking for something a bit different and exciting. You really do feel as though you are there,” says Nicola Miller, managing director at Lime Blue Solutions. “For this group, it was even more special because this was the reserve they were supposed to be visiting on their trip, and we were lucky enough to see rhino lion, cheetah, elephants, hippo and zebra.”

But can virtual experiences still motivate and engage in the same way as an incentive trip? Miller says the virtual safari received great feedback, while Strata’s virtual incentive received an average feedback score of 4/5 and the client has since committed to more virtual incentives with the agency – proof they do have a valuable role to play while travel is temporarily paused.

No substitute for the real thing

BLACK BOOK’s Grant, however, argues: “People can build substitutes for incentive travel and some will create a product that ticks some boxes for clients and helps agencies keep their business going in these difficult times, but the bottom line is that incentive travel has so many other supplementary benefits that simply can’t be replaced. The hard truth is that we’re going to have to ride this pandemic out until we can create the kind of experiences that tick all the boxes again.”

And he’s right, there is no substitute for real travel experiences, and even those creating virtual options agree – they will not replace incentive trips in the long-term. “Nothing will replace the real thing, but you can still get that sense of excitement with a virtual safari,” says Kerry Roos, director of incentives and travel at Green Route Africa. She believes that even when group travel does come back, these virtual products will have a place as part of teaser campaigns for incentive programmes.

The use of virtual experiences could really enhance programmes and help engage and motivate potential incentive winners by immersing them in the destination and giving them a taster of what they will experience if they qualify. Individual rewards too, could have their place in the future, and sit well alongside group incentive solutions, giving clients further flexibility and choice to engage and reward teams, which ultimately, is what incentives are all about.