IRF Survey: 2010 Outlook Improving December 23, 2009 IRF Incentive Trends Survey Shows Slightly Improved Outlook for 2010
By Donna M. Airoldi
Incentive folks are likely glad to see the challenging year of 2009 come to a close. The industry was hit hard the past 12 months by what has been dubbed “the AIG Effect” and the troubled economy. But things seem to have reached a plateau and look to be turning around again.
To see what’s in store for the incentive industry in the New Year, here’s a preview of results from The Incentive Industry Trends 2010 survey, conducted in November by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF).
Overall markers indicate slightly rosier times ahead for incentive programs. “Cautiously optimistic is the term I would use to describe the overall message in the data from the survey,” says Mark Peterman, chairman of the IRF Research Committee. “Our sense is that companies may have been sitting on budgets for the past ten months or so waiting to see how things were going to play out and whether there was going to be more pushback from the media and community regarding incentives.”
Key Findings: Incentive Travel
Incentive travel planners are more optimistic than they have been in recent months, with 33 percent of respondents saying that the economy is having a “slightly” to “significantly” more positive impact about their ability to plan and implement incentive travel programs when compared to results from July (24 percent) and March (11 percent) of 2009.
Additional findings include:
• 44 percent of respondents anticipate “no change” with regards to incentive travel program destinations in 2010, while 47 percent anticipate a switch from international to domestic destinations.
• 41 percent of respondents anticipate “no change” with regards to sponsored non-meal related components for incentive travel programs in 2010 while 7 percent indicate that that sponsored non-meal related components will “moderately increase” in 2010.
• 16 percent of respondents indicate that they expect budgets for incentive travel programs in 2010 to increase, while 30 percent indicate that they expect budgets to “remain unchanged.”
• 36 percent of respondents anticipate “no change” with regards to involvement of procurement and purchasing for incentive travel programs in 2010, while 56 percent agree that their involvement will increase by some degree in 2010.
Key findings: Merchandise Non-Cash Programs
Planners still point to the economic downturn as having a negative impact on their ability to plan and implement merchandise non-cash incentive programs. However, while 34 percent report a negative impact, this is an improvement over the nearly 50 percent reporting a negative impact in October 2008, just as the financial industry was beginning its upheaval.
Additional findings include:
• 26 percent of respondents report a positive impact from the economy in November compared to 20 percent in July 2009.
• 32 percent of respondents indicate that budgets for merchandise non-cash incentive programs in 2010 will increase either “moderately” or “slightly”, while 34 percent of respondents anticipate these budgets to “remain unchanged.”
• 30 percent of respondents indicate there will be a decrease in merchandise award value for 2010 programs.
• 27 percent of respondents indicate they will include individual travel as an option in 2010.
• 22 percent indicate that the use of debit/gift cards will increase.
• 18 percent will add merchandise to programs.
The IRF trends survey was conducted between Oct. 19 and Nov. 17, 2009; participants included incentive travel providers, corporate incentive travel buyers, suppliers and other industry professionals, questions on trends with regard to incentive travel programs, merchandise non-cash programs, and budget changes forecast for 2010. Complete findings will be released in January on the Incentive Research Foundation's Web site.
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