SITE Foundation: Participants’ Viewpoints of Incentive Travel in India

Motivational impact of incentive travel is higher in India than in the U.S. or U.K.

The Society for Incentive Excellence (SITE) Foundation has released the results of a new study, The Participants’ Viewpoint of Incentive Travel: India.The report continues the groundbreaking series started in 2012 that provided views of incentive program participants in the United States and the United Kingdom.

“As the tenth largest business travel market in the world, India is emerging as a strong market for incentive travel. This new study provides companies and planners a deeper understanding of how to design incentive programs that engage and motivate participants in India to achieve higher levels of performance,” commented Tina Weede, SITE Foundation vice-president, research and education and president, USMotivation. “We are committed to global research and to continuing to conduct studies that compare and contrast participants’ viewpoints of incentive travel around the world.”

Sponsored and conducted by marketing research firm, tmf dialogue marketing India, the study reveals the impact of incentive travel programs in India and compares results from qualifiers who earned incentive travel awards vs. non-qualifiers who did not. The data is presented alongside similar studies conducted in the United Kingdom and the United States for a helpful comparison of how this motivational tool affects participants from these three countries.

The overall motivational impact of incentive travel appears to be the highest in India with 89% of respondents viewing it as motivating or extremely motivating, versus 77% in the U.S. and 72% in the U.K.

Respondents overwhelmingly agreed that the incentive program made them feel appreciated (97%) recognized by their peers (90%) and increased their feelings of belongingness (89%) and loyalty (80%) to their company.
Nearly half of respondents perceive incentive travel as more valuable than other motivational tools such as cash (33%) or paid vacation time (25%).
The program destination was the strongest factor affecting the intensity of memories with 81% of respondents agreeing that the incentive travel reward let them experience something unique that they could not do on their own. And, by changing the destination, motivation spikes with 95% saying a different location from the prior program would increase their motivation next time.

SITE president Rajeev Kohli, joint managing director for Creative Travel Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, India spoke to the value of the new research. “Incentive travel is, fundamentally, a trip that offers participants experiences that are once in a lifetime, and/or that they could not easily afford to do on their own. Participants have earned the travel opportunity due to their performance, and therefore the experience needs to be meaningful. This new research provides valuable insight into factors important to the Indian audience so that planners can design programs that deliver business results.”

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Angelos Restanis

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Angelos is the news editor for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). His role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy. He currently studies Communication, Media & Culture in Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens.