MICEBOOK - LUXE REPORT 5 - Flipbook - Page 22
We explore the destinations planners are currently booking
and considering for luxury events and incentives and why…
The world is our oyster again, and luxury event and incentive planners are making the most of it.
Aer several years of being starved of the ability to travel, and then staying closer to home and
sticking to the tried and tested in the immediate aermath of the pandemic, corporate groups are
now eager to go further and deeper to discover more off the beaten track destinations.
The path less trodden
According to the latest Incentive Travel Index, a joint initiative
by the Incentive Research Foundation and SITE (Society of
Incentive Travel Excellence) Foundation, incentive planners
look set to get bolder with their destination choices over the
next couple of years, with 71% of respondents indicating an
increased demand for new destinations not used before.
“We are seeing more demand for cities like Ljubljana in
Slovenia in Europe, or groups opting for destinations like
Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe or Rwanda, when previously
they might have been to Kenya or South Africa,” says SITE
CEO Annee Gregg.
When we asked buyers aending micebook LUXE which
destinations they currently had booked for luxury
events/incentives, and those they are considering, it was a
broad mix of short and long-haul destinations across the
world.
There were the well-trodden and expected – Italy, Dubai,
Malta, Cape Town, Iceland, Thailand, Monaco and
Marrakech – as well as some lesser-known destinations in the
luxury events world – Svalbard, Siena, Quebec, Comporta,
Montana, South America and the Seychelles.
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Yellow Fish director David Heron is always on the lookout for
new and unexpected destinations – the agency has recently
taken groups to Colombia and India and is working with a
client on an incentive programme in Comporta.
“For me, it's about finding that
least trodden path. The minute
a destination becomes
saturated, it becomes harder to
create authentic experiences,”
he says, adding that might mean seeking out a destination
that is a lile bit harder to get to from the UK, such as
Colombia, but that “delivers as well as if not beer than the
mainstream destinations when it comes to the experience.”
One of the agency’s clients recently surveyed its incentive
aendees and asked if they would be willing to travel further
for new and exciting destinations and the answer was a
resounding yes.
