Padraic Gilligan will be presenting “New inSITEs on today's incentive travel qualifiers” on 24 May at IMEX Frankfurt. We spoke with him about incentive travel trends in advance of his EMEC session.
Pádraic Gilligan, chief marketing officer for SITE, will walk attendees through the latest trends in incentive travel and its “awesome, transformational power” at MPI’s EMEC Brighton, 26-28 March.
Collaboration-focused programming will bring planners and suppliers from across Europe together March 26-28 for MPI’s European Meetings & Events Conference (EMEC) in Brighton, UK.
That programming includes a high-energy stroll through the five things you absolutely need to know about the future of incentive travel with Pádraic Gilligan, chief marketing officer of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE).
In advance of Gilligan’s session, we caught up with him to get a sneak peek into the state of incentive travel post-pandemic and what those attending his EMEC session can expect to learn.
SITE is one of several sister associations MPI partnered with on EMEC in order to offer an open place for all of our community members to come together to learn, network and connect with one another.
To what extent has incentive travel recovered from the pandemic up to this point, and what progress do you expect to see in 2023?
Like much activity within the business events industry, the recovery of incentive travel was a tsunami, not the gentle flowing tide we thought it would be.
We conducted ongoing research with corporate end users throughout the pandemic (still available on SITE Global under our “inSITE series”) and not a single one got recovery correct!
Ready to brighten your world in the hippest city in the world? Learn more about the register for EMEC Brighton, 26-28 March.
2022 ended up being a “be careful what you wish for” scenario with a surfeit of business and shortage of staff. 2023 is much more nuanced, particularly from a regional perspective, with strong signals from the U.S. not quite matched by other regions. Research shows U.S. incentive business consolidating around nearby locations—Caribbean, U.S. domestic, Mexico—although Western Europe still remains in vogue. It’s still unclear how GB and European business will pan out but the Gulf States look good (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman).
Can you give us an example of how incentive travel can improve a company’s culture?
Over the past 10 years we’ve noted a decisive shift in how incentive travel programs are measured and evaluated. Initially the measurements were all around dollar returns but, gradually, soft power elements took over and incentive travel was valued not only because it generated ROI but, increasingly, because it stoked all the intangibles—relationships, connections, esprit de corps, values.
It's not difficult to see why. An incentive trip brings qualifiers and company officers away from their day-to-day interactions and removes the structures, the supports, the barriers. It unmasks them, and causes them to connect on a human level, as colleagues discovering a destination together. As most incentives include spouses and/or significant others, they connected more meaningfully with each other’s lives and collegiality is fostered.
Can you give us an example of how post-pandemic incentive travel is (or will be) different?
Even without the pandemic we had come a long way from the unbridled extravagance of the 80s that gave incentive travel a bad name.
In this post-pandemic world our approach is evolving even more. Here are some of the ways.
Firstly, we have a new appreciation of the sheer intrinsic joy of travel and, hopefully, we don’t take it for granted anymore. After being grounded for almost two full years, we’re anxious to spread our wings again, and soar high.
“We want to immerse ourselves in the destination, experience it as a local, not a tourist.”
Secondly, we’re gaining a better understanding of the privilege of travel and the fact that not all travel is, perhaps, necessary. We know that travel also comes at a cost to the planet so we’re more mindful of the type of trips we take, and of the need for these trips to be purposeful.
Thirdly, we’re more focused on how we interact with the destinations we visit. We want experiences, not excursions. We want to immerse ourselves in the destination, experience it as a local, not a tourist. Some of us want to give something back to the destination, particularly if it’s an emerging economy.
Fourthly, we want our experience to be personalized. We don’t want to be treated as a generic group, a one-size-fits-all.
What is a common misperception about incentive travel, either with the broader meeting industry or from outside the industry (or both)?
The most common misperception is that this is a boondoggle or a quick fix where a company lavishes attention on an elite group of obnoxious, spoilt brats. This simply couldn’t be further from the reality.
Since 1973, SITE has been talking about incentive travel as a key element in a company’s reward and recognition program, whereby an extraordinary travel reward is offered to a participant in exchange for extraordinary performance.
“In its purest form, incentive travel is earned, just like salary or other company benefits.”
In its purest form, incentive travel is earned, just like salary or other company benefits. Participants on incentive programs qualify for the program as a result of uncommon levels of performance. The incentive is not something that simply falls down, like manna from the heavens—employees earn it and are entitled to it.
Once everyone in the supply chain understand this simple reality, everything else falls into place and we can start to understand the truly transformational potential of incentive travel for individuals, companies and destinations.
What do you hope attendees will take away from your EMEC session?
I’ve always applauded the way MPI highlights the big-picture potential for how meetings can change the world. I believe that firmly. When people come together and “meet,” magic happens.
Incentive travel unleashes the same dynamic in that it provides a travel experience to an individual and that travel experience can be life changing.
I hope to connect at this level at EMEC and highlight what SITE is doing to communicate the awesome, transformational power of travel.
