Programs are changing to meet the needs of new generations
With most of the Boomer generation officially retired, incentive travel programs are changing to reflect the new reality of Generation X (age 44-59) and Millennials (age 28-43) now making up the majority of attendees.
The recently released Incentive Research Foundation’s 2024 Attendee Preferences for Incentive Travel shows that these two cohorts make up 86% of today’s incentive travel groups. The survey was conducted in March of 2024.
Beverly Read, sales director with Wynford, an incentive house based in Toronto, says this demographic is not the country club and golf set that was the norm when she started out.
Wynford’s clients represent a broad range of industries spanning finance, legal and telecommunications. “This group,” says Read, “is well-travelled, and is looking for adventure, luxurious accommodations, hip nightspots and more time to relax when they go on an incentive trip. Pickleball has replaced golf as a top priority and they are more vocal about what they want.” It’s not enough now to do yoga on the beach. You need to have yoga with goats— or in one instance, Read notes—yoga with flamingos.
Read and her colleagues note this group is also changing programs in other ways. The focus is not about being noticed and having peer recognition anymore. “These attendees are not really into sit-down dinners—they get restless. They prefer stand-up action stations, so they can mix and mingle and stay as long as they want. This group is also very culinary savvy. They go to the newest restaurants and they are looking for creative and innovative food stations and buffets. This cohort is also into fancy cocktails.”
According to the survey, the top three drivers of an incentive travel program are ample free time to relax, unique experiences that you otherwise could not have and luxurious accommodations and experiences.
Survey respondents were also asked to rank the top three drivers that would motivate them to earn a trip. These included: an appealing destination (up 10% from last year’s survey), being allowed to bring a guest or companion (up 6%) and having expenses related to the trip covered (up 8%).
Hawaii, Las Vegas and Florida were the top three North American incentive destinations preferred by respondents. Canada ranked tenth, just above Mexico. Western Europe (France, Italy, Germany), Central America (Costa Rica, Panama) and the Middle East (Egypt, Dubai) are the top three international destinations. Interestingly, Cvent recently reported that nine of their top ten 2024 bookings are heavily weighted in Mexico and the Caribbean: Playa Del Carmen, Nassau and San Jose del Cabo remain the top three booked destinations for the third year in a row.
And this may reflect attendees’ personal choices as well: When Read asks her clients where they go on their personal holiday, “They say, ’Oh, we took the kids hiking in Chile’—when I was a kid,” says Read, “my family went camping in Ontario.”
