Some people are saying that incentive travel has run its course as an effective motivator. We believe that it has only encountered a bump in the road and that it is every bit as effective as it was in the past. While terrorism and the war in Iraq provided reasons for planners and qualifiers alike to stay close to home, much has changed.
First of all, the psychological impact of terrorism has waned. We are becoming Europeanized in understanding that our new approach to everyday life and to traveling is here to stay. Our fear has greatly diminished and life goes on. For the most part, people are again willing to travel to those parts of the world that interest them. (There have always been places we avoided based on our perception of welcome and safety.)
According to a new survey conducted for the National Business Travel Association, 31% of travel managers expect to spend more money on business travel in 2003 than last year. We wish that this figure were greater but it’s a move in the right direction. That this amount is not what we wish it would be is because of the economy, not because people are afraid to travel. If people are ready and willing to travel for business reasons, they certainly will still be motivated by the allure of incentive travel. Most incentive houses can tell you that clients have started to return to their incentive programs.
It is up to us to create programs that achieve business objectives, are cost effective, and that motivate people to work for the promised rewards.
And, speaking of being cost-effective…
IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID!
The end of the will-we-or-won’t-we quandary and the successful conclusion to the Iraq War has given us renewed confidence in our ability to care for ourselves. We’re ready to go back to doing things the way we did in the past, or almost so. The real challenge now has nothing to do with fear of flying. To borrow a phrase from the past, It’s the economy, stupid!
Now, we have to prove to our clients, whether they are CEOs of corporations or incentive planners, that investment in incentive programs pays off as a bottom line contribution.
Incentive companies and incentive planners have to get away from the comfort of doing things as they did in the past. They must develop their programs to first achieve measurable objectives. That may sound simplistic - after all, wasn’t that part of Incentive Marketing 101? - but very few companies actually measured the results of their incentive programs to prove to management that they added to profits.
If we want to see the incentive industry - and incentive travel, in particular - continue to grow, we must first attend to the business end of incentive marketing. Then, and only then, can we develop the kinds of incentive travel rewards that qualifiers will never forget. Memories and images of these exceptional experiences will keep incentive travel the most effective of all motivators. The ROI will keep corporations coming back for more.