IRF Research: Meaningful Incentive Travel Is Increasingly About Access, Not Just Luxury
Experiences People Cannot Simply Buy for Themselves
The Experience Begins During Destination Selection
Experience Quality Moves Toward Measurement
A Shift From Destination to Story
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The latest Incentive Research Foundation research on the role of Convention and Visitors Bureaus and Destination Marketing Organizations contains a broader message for the incentive travel business: the destination and hotel remain important, but the differentiator increasingly appears to be what participants actually get to experience once they arrive.In the IRF survey of 200 incentive travel professionals, 80% identified access to unique experiences as an important area of value provided by CVBs and DMOs, ranking it ahead of destination fit at 71%, financial support at 70%, hotel and venue navigation at 67%, and operational efficiency at 64%.
The irony is that creating bucket-list events was a founding principle of the incentive travel when it emerged in the 1960s with the advent of jet travel.
Experiences People Cannot Simply Buy for Themselves
The research repeatedly emphasizes access and exclusivity rather than simply luxury. CVBs and DMOs say their greatest contribution often comes from knowing the local people, venues, events and experience providers capable of creating something unavailable to the ordinary traveler. Local immersion, behind-the-scenes access and experiences uniquely connected to the destination are cited as key ways to differentiate incentive travel from an upscale vacation.
One example in the report involved an agriculture company whose incentive trip incorporated local agribusiness learning, farm-to-table activities and dinners in fields under prairie skies. The experience combined education with the reward trip in a way closely connected to both the participants and the destination.
This suggests an important opportunity for incentive planners. Meaningfulness does not necessarily require spending more. It can come from designing experiences around the interests, profession, culture or aspirations of the participants and gaining access to people and places they would otherwise never encounter.
The Experience Begins During Destination Selection
Another notable finding is how early this experience design should begin. Sixty-eight percent of respondents say they have made a destination decision based on the quality or support of a CVB or DMO. The IRF recommends engaging destination organizations while cities are still being considered, rather than after hotels and dates have already been selected.Early involvement gives planners more opportunity to uncover unusual venues, local personalities, cultural events, site visits and experiences that can become the emotional centerpiece of the program. The research finds that planners commonly involve CVBs and DMOs during hotel sourcing, early feasibility, destination shortlisting and experience design.
The study does not suggest that CVBs and DMOs replace destination management companies. In fact, it portrays them as complementary resources. DMCs provide the boots-on-the-ground execution, while CVBs and DMOs can bring broader destination knowledge, connections and sometimes access that neither the planner nor DMC may initially identify.
Experience Quality Moves Toward Measurement
Perhaps the most significant finding for the future of incentive travel is that planners increasingly want to measure the experience itself. When asked which KPIs CVBs and DMOs should help deliver or measure, 67% selected experience quality and uniqueness, ahead of program ROI or cost savings at 61% and time saved in planning at 59%. (This could reflect the nature of survey repondents whose focus is primarily event planning.)
In addition, 62% of those surveyed said CVB/DMO engagement improves program ROI. The IRF says earlier collaboration could ultimately support measurement that goes beyond traditional room nights and satisfaction scores toward business performance and longer-term behavioral change.
A Shift From Destination to Story
The research reinforces a direction the incentive travel field has discussed for decades. A beautiful resort remains desirable. Increasingly, however, the lasting value may come from giving participants an experience they will remember, talk about and associate with the organization that made it possible.
For incentive travel companies, that places a premium not simply on finding attractive destinations, but on becoming experience architects capable of understanding what will be meaningful to a particular audience and then using local relationships to make it happen.
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