Prevue Meetings & Incentives, a Worth International Media brand, is a leading authority in the meetings and incentives industries has released the findings of its first-annual survey of in-house corporate incentive planners. The Corporate Incentive Trends Survey is based on responses from 382 planners from Prevue's audience. Respondents came from a variety of industries, with the largest percentage coming from technology (26%), financial and insurance (24%), and manufacturing (23%), followed by automotive, direct sales and other industries. The majority of respondents plan incentives that target the sales force (47%), dealers/distributors (44%) or the distribution channel (22%), though a quarter of companies said they run incentive trips for employees whose roles are not directly tied to sales quotas.

"This survey is clear proof that incentive travel programs work," says Prevue Editor Barbara Scofidio. "While companies had to pull back for a couple of years, they are once again investing in incentives and choosing locations around the globe. For this survey, we went straight to the source—the people within corporations who plan these trips—and we plan to continue it annually."

2023 was a turnaround year, according to the results. Budgets are up, international trips are back and the outlook for this year looks bright. 60% of respondents reported that their companies' sales increased in 2023, with another 21% saying that sales had remained the same as in 2022. That growth filtered down to incentive budgets, with 51 percent of respondents saying their budgets had increased in 2023; however, a significant number (35%) reported having to work with the same budgets in 2023 as they had in 2022. There were also a small number of respondents (15%) doing more with less. The outlook for 2024 is slightly more positive, with 58% of respondents saying their incentive budgets will increase; however, 24% saying they will stay the same and 18% who will be working with smaller budgets.

The average per-person budget for 2023 incentives was $6,177, which increased from last year for 49% of the respondents, stayed the same for 30% and decreased for 21% of respondents. Including spouses or partners on the trip remains a priority for companies, with only 17% of respondents saying they do not invite a guest.

Group sizes for incentive programs have traditionally been small, and a majority (58%) of this year's respondents reported an average of under 200 attendees. Just 15% of respondents plan programs for more than 500 attendees. The most popular trip length is five days, four nights (22%), followed by three days, two nights (21%). A small fraction of companies sponsor trips of 7 days or longer—just 12%.

For additional survey results on destination choices, cruises, individual incentives and more click here.

Prevue Meetings & Incentives is a multiplatform brand that inspires planners by providing immersive experiential travel coverage, professional development and thought leadership. Prevue offers a 360-degree approach to providing its meeting planner decision maker audience with the informative content, tools, data, and events to perform at their best and create unique, creative, and exceptional meetings, incentives, conventions, conferences and events. Prevue's publication and digital content, webinars, Visionary Summit events, e-newsletters and more are the perfect resources for meeting planners to perform their jobs and stay informed about the meetings and incentives industry. Prevue Meetings & Incentives is a product of Worth International Media. For more information about Worth International Media's brands and services, visit worthit.com or call (305) 828-0123.