The research comes from the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and Maritz, which focusses on employee and customer engagement for business performance.
“This research confirms that travel is not under threat from cash,” said SITE CEO, Annette Gregg.
“If anything, it is the other way around – cash is under threat from travel. Incentive travel remains the dominant non-cash motivator across every generation.”
Aside from qualifying travel as the ultimate motivator, the survey painted a new picture of incentive travel participants, shaking up existing assumptions of who the sector’s end-user is.
With a survey size of 960 qualified responses, across all generations from Gen Z to Baby Boomers, the research found that 61 per cent of respondents rated individual travel as extremely motivating, whilst 50 per cent said group travel was motivating, with debit cards being the next highest ranked motivator, with 48 per cent rating this kind of reward motivating, closely followed by gift cards, which 47 per cent of those surveyed said was motivating.
Merchandise performed worst, with 36 per cent of respondents finding this kind of reward motivating.
With respondents divided roughly equally between Gen Z (making up just over one third), Millennials (just under a third) and Gen X and Baby Boomers (combined comprising the remaining third), the research also highlighted generational differences between incentive participants.
Gen Z were found to be less motivated by almost every kind of reward than other generations, with the exception of merchandise, by which they are more highly motivated than all older generations by five to six per cent.
Gen Z were also twice as likely to dislike group travel than older generations, while conversely also participating in more incentive trips than older cohorts. Forty per cent of Gen Z respondents had qualified for at least four trips in the last three years, while only 26 per cent of the oldest two generations in the study had qualified for four or more trips over the same time period.
Notwithstanding these generational differences, the research showed that incentive travel works – 89 per cent of all participants said they were more likely to remain in their role after incentive travel while the same proportion said incentive travel increased their loyalty to the company sponsoring the trip. Overall, 93 per cent of respondents said they wanted to qualify for incentive travel again.
“This data matters because it moves the conversation beyond opinions and gut assumptions,” said vice president of brand at Maritz, Sarah Kiefer.
“Incentive travel isn’t just a nice reward. It’s a real driver of retention, loyalty and future performance.
“These findings give program owners a strong business case which reinforces something we see all the time – the emotional side matters.
“When more than half of people say a group travel experience feels like an achievement, it’s clear the impact goes beyond the trip to create deeper connections within the organisation.”
The research also highlighted who is qualifying for reward travel in the US and their incentive preferences.
Less than 10 per cent of those surveyed worked in sales, with 60 per cent working in either operations or technology roles and 80 per cent earned less than US$150,000 each year. Less than 10 per cent were remote workers and about three quarters had worked for their company for less than a decade.
In terms of preferences, US destinations were mostly highly preferenced – selected by 44 per cent of respondents, with Asia next highest, selected by just 14 per cent. Only two per cent selected Oceania and the Pacific Islands as a preferential destination.
All inclusive resorts were also the most highly desired kind of incentive, with 29 per cent selecting this as their first choice.
Kiefer said the research results indicated incentive design needed to change.
“The next generation of incentive travel will need to be more intentional, more flexible and more inclusive,” she said.
“Guest choice, first-time destinations, built-in recognition moments and experiences that reflect a broader workforce are not ‘nice to have’ design details.
“They are the factors that determine whether a trip feels personal, motivating and worth pursuing.
“The message from the research is clear: incentive travel works, but the best-performing programs will be those designed around current and future qualifiers, not who the industry designed for in the past.”
Meanwhile Gregg said the research “gives our industry a more sophisticated and more compelling story to tell”.
“Incentive travel continues to outperform other non-cash rewards across every generation, but the data also shows that programme design has to evolve.
“The workforce being motivated by travel today is broader, more operationally focused and more multi-generational than many traditional models assume.
“That creates a major opportunity for buyers, DMCs, agencies, destinations and incentive professionals to build programmes that are more inclusive, more intentional and more effective.
“Most importantly, it gives the industry the evidence it needs to defend incentive travel in the C-suite, not as a discretionary reward, but as a strategic tool for motivation, loyalty and performance.”
