SITE Foundation, the education and fundraising arm of SITE Global, will add to the excitement around next Tuesday’s inaugural PlanetIMEX Community Day by using the virtual platform to launch to two new long-form studies on the incentive travel industry.
The studies—one on incentive travel in Europe and the other on the role of DMCs—were commissioned from data compiled from the Incentive Travel Industry Index (ITII), SITE Foundation’s joint annual research project with partners, Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) and Financial & Insurance Conference Professionals (FICP).
“The depth and range of the data was such that we were able to commission individual geographical studies for Europe and Asia and a stand-alone study for the DMC sector to complement the global ITII report previously released at IMEX America 2019,” explained Carina Bauer, CEO, The IMEX Group and president, 2020, SITE Foundation. “While the COVID-19 crisis has significantly altered the incentive travel landscape in 2020, we felt the underlying regional and sectoral stories were sufficiently compelling and robust to merit release at this time. I encourage all incentive travel professionals but particularly those living and working in Europe and those in the DMC sector to download these comprehensive studies from the SITE Global website.”
DMC Report podcast released Tuesday, May 12, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. (Chicago), 2:00 p.m. (London) and 9:00 p.m. (Singapore). Podcast available HERE.
Europe Report Live Streaming on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. (Chicago), 3:00 p.m. (London) and 10:00 p.m. (Singapore). Register HERE.
Tina Weede, CITP, CRP, president and CEO, Peerless Performance and vice-president, Research and Content, SITE Foundation, added: “I’m proud to announce the launch of these studies and especially delighted with the strong team of incentive professionals that have been lined up to help us do so.”
The DMC report will be launched as a podcast. Erica Sep, head of sales for Asia, Pacific World, Huw Tuckett, CEO, Euromic and Jennifer Patino, CEO, Hosts Global, joining podcast supremo Wayne Wallgren of SITE Texas, for a conversation on the nature, purpose and direction the DMC sector.
The Europe Report will be a live webinar moderated by SITE Foundation trustee Hamish Reid of MMGY Hills Balfour with industry veteran Miek Egberts of InspireME Monaco & France and Holly Mills, head of incentives at Penguins.
EUROPE REPORT | Key Points & Findings
- 517 responses – 44% buyers, 45% supplier
- Focus on two key source markets – Great Britain and Germany
- When compared to North America, European incentive travel programs are less luxurious, more focused on soft power and more likely to include a meeting component.
- Europeans value uniqueness and authenticity of destination over the quality of hotel or resort.
- No such thing as a typical European program; source markets are not aligned when it comes to overall program design
DMC REPORT | Key Points & Findings
- 537 responses – 29% N. America, 30% Europe, 23% Asia
- DMCs not one-global-size-fits-all; different business models in different regions particularly in relation to business referrals
- DMCs manage 40% to 60% of total destination budget; lower amongst North American DMCs
- DMCs receive 60% of their business on average from agencies and 40% direct for corporate or association clients
- DMCs believe that their percentage share of the overall budget will fall by 9% over the next five years
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