THE US incentive travel market, slowed down by the debt crisis in recent years, is on the rebound, albeit with smaller budgets, and Asia faces competition for it from the Caribbean and Mexico, as well as second-tier European cities, according to Joost de Meyer, chairman and CEO of First Incentive Travel US and an active Site International member.
“We see that the US incentive market is coming back and companies are going on incentives with their clients or staff,” said de Meyer. “But budgets are smaller, while the duration of trips is getting shorter.
“The content of incentive programmes is also shifting because of the changing demographics of participants – younger people want to have more free time to experience the destination and meet locals.”
Second-tier European cities are getting more popular as they are cheaper than established incentive destinations like London, Paris and Italy, he said.
Asian destinations should also be benefiting from the rebound. Besides destinations like Thailand, China and Vietnam that are well-known to the US market, de Meyer sees growing interest for Myanmar.
Asked what China needs to do to attract more US incentives, de Meyer said: “China should…attend well-known (trade) shows like IMEX (Frankfurt), IMEX America, AIBTM, etc. It should also seek cooperation with associations like Site and MPI. Seeing is believing, so it is always wise to organise fam trips (for US incentive planners).”
De Meyer helped in the formation of the Site China Chapter in 2006. He said for the chapter to grow further, it has to address the challenge that China is a large country, thus it is difficult to organise meetings and events for all members.
“It has to be on a local scale, i.e. organising meetings for members in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It has to be supported by the local government,” he said.
For other stories, go to TTG Official Daily – IT&CM China 2014
