The findings are from the latest SITE PULSE survey, taken by 286 incentive professionals in May, including 90 incentive agencies and 34 corporate end users.
Survey respondents were asked to select the five most important factors when choosing a DMC and then rank those five in order of priority, with weighted scores showing which factors were deemed the most critical.
Local expertise and insight was ranked highest, with reputation and relationships not far behind. Every other factor of the 10 possible choices scored significantly lower, with financial stability coming third last in terms of importance, ranking above only technology and systems and the scale and reach of a DMC.
Responsiveness and agility, service breadth and creativity and attitude and cultural fit took out places three to five, although they had weighted scores below two, compared to the local expertise and relationship factors, which had weighted scores of 3.47 and 3.31 respectively, indicating they were selected and ranked highly by a significantly larger contingent of survey respondents.
In terms of the most selected number one factor for choosing a DMC, reputation and relationships was selected as the top factor by 42.3 per cent of respondents, while local expertise and insight was selected as the top factor by 33.6 per cent of those surveyed. No other factor received a number one ranking by more than eight per cent of respondents, reinforcing the overwhelming importance of those top two decision factors.
“This SITE PULSE survey confirms something many incentive travel professionals instinctively understand: the value of a great DMC lies in their ability to open up a destination with insight, creativity and confidence,” said SITE’s CEO, Annette Gregg.
“Technology, systems and scale all have a role to play, but they do not replace the depth of local knowledge, judgement and relationships that make incentive travel programmes genuinely memorable and effective.
“The findings are important because they show both consistency and nuance.
“There is a strong shared view across the industry that DMC selection starts with local insight and trust. However, different audiences look at DMCs through slightly different lenses.
“Corporates are thinking about programme design, agencies are thinking about delivery confidence, DMOs are thinking about destination representation and suppliers are often seeing DMCs through the lens of reputation and partnership.”
Aside from incentive agencies and corporate end-users, survey respondents included 58 DMCs, 65 representatives of hotels and suppliers and 18 respondents who work for destinations.
