The workforce is rapidly changing. Not only did the greater hospitality industry see a massive turnover since the pandemic, but a Deloitte study undertaken in the USA predicted that by 2025, 75 percent of the workforce would be under 40 years old.

How does this new generation of entrants into the incentive travel and business events industries affect program design, service delivery, and participant preferences? These questions and others will need to be addressed as all hospitality companies face the need for refreshed training, succession planning and future-proofing.

And what about destination selection? Living in the era of the democratization of travel, most millennials have been everywhere already – what destination experiences do they prize and crave?

Finally, this generational shift also means there are four (sometimes five) active generations in the workplace and at our incentive travel programs, creating a challenge to design programs, activities and experiences that resonate for all.

Core to incentive travel are unforgettable destinations and experiences. With this in mind, how does augmented reality aid or threaten our industry?

Other advancements in artificial intelligence like ChatGPT are altering routine activities like copywriting and marketing. Can the incentive travel industry understand and exploit these innovations?

Can virtual enhancements make a destination come alive and drive more excitement from qualifiers?

How can artificial intelligence help incentive professionals customize and personalize experiences to make them even more powerful?

In the last few decades, the incentive travel and wider business events industries have experienced massive disruptions: recessions, pandemics, political conflicts, as well as radical changes to the nature and purpose of work.

These disruptions have threatened global travel, causing a contraction in programs, staff levels and valuable business revenue. However, they have also caused new opportunities as corporations re-evaluate how they connect with, and onboard workers, particularly ones that work remotely.

The business case for incentive travel has always been ROI – by using incentive travel as part of your reward and recognition program, you generate a multiple returns.

But are new “business cases” now emerging as incentive travel, increasingly, is used to promote soft power in organisations – better staff / management relationships, better modelling of company culture etc

What tools does the incentive travel industry have to justify the business case for incentive programs and face-to-face events? What resources do we have that include quantitative data on business growth, as well as qualitative data on the power of relationships?

The global landscape is constantly changing, with shifts in political stability and destination accessibility but questions around environmental sustainability are now multiplying.

While the focus on sustainability amongst US incentive travel professionals remains relatively weak, in other global regions it is both intense and strong

While the democratization of global air travel opens up new options for qualifiers, in some global regions, Flygskam or “flight shaming” is increasingly a topic for debate.

Can incentive travel prevail and prosper in such a context? What does “sustainable incentive travel” look like?

A more diverse, welcoming industry benefits us all. While we try to make the business events industry more inclusive and diverse, we still see inequities in key areas like leadership, wages and hiring.

What needs to be done on the systemic, company and personal fronts to provide fair access for all?

Are we keeping a pace with radical changes in the corporate world, where environmental, social, & governance (ESG) concerns are increasingly shaping choices and budget allocations — with increasing legal obligations, too?