SITE Foundation releases Corporate inSITEs, a qualitative survey of 50 US corporations on the changing face of incentive travel.
Corporate inSITEs is a survey series undertaken by SITE Foundation in 2021 with responses provided exclusively by professionals in corporations whose remit includes the approval, oversight, design, planning, execution or delivery of incentive travel programs.
Last week, during SITE NITE all NITE, Selina Sinclair, CEO, Realm & Vice President, Research & Content, SITE Foundation, presented the results of this qualitative study to a virtual gathering of over 800 global incentive travel professionals.
“We received submissions from 50 US companies who use incentive travel as a key driver for their reward and recognition programs. Following the widespread cancellation of programmes in 2020, we wanted to determine how senior leadership now viewed incentive travel. The response was unambiguous: 94% remain 100% committed to their travel rewards, with only 6% reporting any wavering in commitment.”
President of SITE Foundation, Terry Manion, added: “The pandemic clearly hasn’t dulled our corporate clients’ appetite for incentive travel – if anything, it’s been sharpened by its absence – but, that said, the survey does spotlight some changes around success factors with contracts and risk mitigation now a priority for corporations planning programs. The spotlight, too, is firmly on destination selection with safety factors, and overall destination appeal, eclipsing all other considerations. By comparison, the 2019, pre-pandemic Incentive Travel Industry Index (a joint study produced by SITE Foundation, FICP and IRF) ranked infrastructure (hotels, resorts etc) in the top spot when it came to selecting a destination.”
The survey instrument fielded for a two week period between 6 and 22 April 2021. Questions asked for the corporate perspective on:
- Types of incentive travel and their likely increase or decrease in frequency over the next 3 years;
- Impact of the pandemic on incentive, reward and recognition programs;
- Time frame for resumption of domestic or international in-person meeting/event and incentive travel experience;
- Changes being made to design of incentive travel program in light of the pandemic;
- Attitude of corporate C-suite toward the resumption of incentive travel programs;
- Considerations and criteria for selecting a destination in post pandemic world;
- Biggest, most important learning as a result of the disruptions caused by Covid-19
A summary presentation of data is available here
