November | December 2018 | Ignitemag.ca | 47
ยป
Photo
credit:
Newfoundland
and
Labrador
Tourism/Barrett
&
MacKay
Photo
HOMEGROWN
STATS
2 0 1 8 I N C E N T I V E T R A V E L M A R K E T S U R V E Y
O F F E R S A C A N A D I A N P E R S P E C T I V E
by Sandra Eagle
While there is plenty of market research on
international incentive travel, insights into the
Canadian market are hard to come by. This year
SITE Canada and the SITE Foundation sponsored
the 2018 Incentive Travel Survey, conducted by
Bramm Research Inc. on behalf of the now defunct
Meetings + Incentive Travel magazine.
A panel convened by SITE Canada for the
IncentiveWorks trade show discussed some
of the highlights of the survey. Not surprisingly,
spending on incentive travel has been about the
same for the last few years and lead times are shorter.
The panel discussed ROI strategies, risk management
and program experience.
R O I S T R A T E G Y
What is changing, at least for the pan-
elists, is the strategy behind incentive
travel programs. For Cate Banfield,
senior director at BCD Meetings &
Events based in Chicago, proving
ROI is key to program design. "You
now have 365 days of opportunity
year-round to touch your customer,
driving engagement and loyalty. You
need to ask your clients what their
business objectives are and what
behaviours they are trying to change."
Terry Manion, vice-president at
Meridican Incentive Consultants
based in Markham, Ont., says "incen-
tive travel drives retention, loyalty
and corporate culture. So often in the
past we were just order takers, and
now as the corporate world under-
stands more about incentive travel
they are accepting us as strategic
partners. It's all about asking our
clients the right questions."
2018 INCENTIVE
