Industry Concerns About the Economy, According to Research September 24, 2008
By Alex Palmer
Yesterday the Incentive Research Foundation released the results of its newest pulse survey, titling the study, "Effects of a Down Economy on the Incentive Industry." A full 81 percent of respondents said that they feel the down economy is having a negative impact on their ability to plan travel incentive program, noting a shift from international to domestic destinations and reductions in number of days/nights, number of rooms and a decrease in on-site inclusions per participant.
The survey was conducted over a four-week period that concluded on August 14, 2008, with 80 respondents made up of 56 percent incentive travel providers, 25 percent corporate incentive travel buyers and 17 percent suppliers, hoteliers and others.
Also interesting is that 73 percent of respondents view the down economy as having caused a permanent change in how the success and ROI of future incentive programs will be measured, with 61 percent saying it’s already resulted in incentive program budget cuts including the number of qualifiers and award budgets.
On the merchandise side, the situation looked a little healthier, with less than half of respondents saying that the down economy is having an impact on their ability to implement their program.
The Incentive Research Foundation has recently begun these pulse surveys in an effort to get a sense of the attitudes and opinions of those in the incentive industry. To see the full results from this survey, readers can visit www.theIRF.org.
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