According to Wikipedia, incentive travel means employees’ trips paid for by employer as part of a reward for completing given tasks, for outstanding performance or as an incentive for future.
According to the definition by Society of Incentive & Travel Executives (SITE), it is: A total management tool for using extraordinary trips in order to motivate or reward employees for their work exceeding their tasks, and bringing the company’s goals closer. Such trips are often organized also for best partners of a given company.
The following are the main things which make incentive travel different from classic leisure tourism:
Very high quality of services provided at each stage of travel,
Communication with participants before and after travel,
Individually structured itinerary, adjusted to the purpose, time-limits and budget of a given trip,
Particularly good care for safety and comfort of participants,
These are group trips, from a few up to even over a few hundred of participants,
In most cases, all costs are covered by employer/organization who the travel is ordered by,
Trips are usually organized outside the holiday season.
Most important advantages of travel incentives include:
Employees/partners become more loyal (thus, the costs of staff rotation decreases; partners increase turnover and revenues of the company),
Employees/partners identify with the company (they work with greater commitment, partners are less willing to move to company’s rival),
Company’s image is improved with employees/partners as friendly and caring, appreciating actions and outstanding achievements,
Employees get to know each other from different perspectives, they integrate, the atmosphere at work improves (teamwork communication gets more efficient, and, in turn, productivity and effectiveness, too),
Employees/partners want to go on such trip again (they are more motivated and committed).
To sum up, rewards in the form of incentive travel make a perfect tool providing numerous benefits both for employees as well as the management staff, in terms of quality and finance, and moreover it gives everyone unforgettable memories.