If we had to define the word incentive travel properly, but in a layperson’s term, we can say that incentive travel is one of those perks you can avail in the corporate sector, which is also commonly grouped up and clubbed to call it M.I.C.E, which is short for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions. They are so named because all these four events usually have a very overlapping nature. Although, incentive travel differs content-wise from other kinds of meetings in a way, that is, incentive travel usually has its focus on socializing activities and entertainment-related stuff. They involve planning for locations, coordinating the traveling schedule, destination and accommodation, and creating an itinerary for supporting events.
What is Incentive Travel?
Incentive travel can be called as the reward element which comes with a loyalty programme or a recognition, which comes in a form of a paid trip which covers all the expenses, and a scheduled programme of activities, and events.
Incentive programmes are generally a corporate term which can be called as a tool for motivation for achieving certain objectives, for example, the increase of sales. All the participants of the company, like, the distributors, the re-sellers, the customers or the employees, after they achieve a certain work target are given a fully sponsored trip as a ‘reward’. For the fulfillment of this particular award, the companies generally use an event planner for coordinating the trip and for designing the itinerary.
Things Included in an Incentive Trip:
For making the most out of any particular team or group, what is necessary is the team building and bonding, alongside a sort of relaxation after the completion and achievement of a predetermined target. This usually creates a sort of community within the group which is travelling. Incentive trips generally constitute free or sponsored activities, excursions, and boarding and lodging which is usually paid for. In most cases, the itinerary of the trip includes all those places which have ‘exclusive access’ for employees; something which could not be accessible to them on a personal tour. If the company is planning a president’s club, exclusivity is necessary.
Advantages
- Healthy Competition: who does not like unwinding? Incentive travel could be a great way of inculcating a healthy competitive spirit among your employees. They would automatically start working better and strive for better goals in order of earning their incentive.
- Cost Effectiveness: an all-paid trip is the best and cost constructive incentive. Incentivized travel acts as a better incentive even compared to money. This can provide a certain boost in ego among the employees in a cost constructive manner in case of the employers.
- Performance Improvement: if you want to achieve your goals, this is the best way to get an improved performance on part of your employees. Apart from that, it also gives your employee’s morale a huge boost, who then works harder to reach the incentive and eventually their targets.
Sorts of Incentive Trips:
Incentive trips have a huge gamut of varieties in them, which are categorized in various manners. Some of it may include:
- Sales programme: it is estimated that at least fifty percent of all organizations and major companies utilize their incentivized trips in order to increase their revenue by an increase in production. What these companies do is, they announce their incentive, which in this case could be a luxurious travel destination in the last quarter before their sales kick off, alongside with all the requirements for an employee in order to be able to avail them; who in turn work to their level best to achieve those goals.
- Channel incentives: since a business is mostly dependent on their channel sources via the source revenues. The incentive trip could have been arranged for people on the retail side, from people on the manufacturing side. Like we discussed earlier, channel retailers are constantly dealing with products manufactured by any rival company, hence, all such cashless incentivization works well for convincing the retailer to behave in a favorable manner for the company in the near future.
Wrapping Up
Incentive trips hold a lot of power, and it is not a trivial thing. Huge multinationals spend a whole chunk of their revenue on incentivized trips, and if played correctly, these incentive trips could increase your chances of cracking an extremely crucial deal with regards to the company.