The 2025 Incentive Travel Index (ITI) has made it clear: people want more from incentive travel than a beautiful destination. They want connection. They want culture. And they want trips that feel intentional and deeply rewarding.
This year’s ITI Report—produced by the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF)—gathered insights from over 2,700 respondents across 85 countries, giving one of the most complete views of where incentive travel trends are heading. During the ITI launch at IMEX America, I had the opportunity to be part of the panel to discuss the findings, seeing firsthand the excitement around where incentive travel is headed.
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Incentive travel is refining, emphasizing authentic experiences, smarter destination decisions, and awareness of new challenges. Attendees want experiences that feel personal and purposeful. The 2025 findings show that connection and culture are central to motivation, and strategic planning now outweighs pure spending.
Quick Links
- What the ITI Measures and Why It Matters
- Activities That Define a Successful Incentive Program
- Choosing Destinations That Inspire and Deliver
- Balancing Familiar and New—What the Data Shows About Destination Selection
- Rising Costs and Emerging Challenges
- From Data to Direction
- Frequently Asked Questions from the 2025 ITI Highlights
What the ITI Measures and Why It Matters
The 2025 ITI isn’t just a data report—it reveals the real impact of incentive travel around the world. It captures how planners design experiences that motivate people, support company culture, and reinforce the strategies organizations care about most.
The 2025 ITI is valuable because it's balanced, surveying both sides of the industry:
- Buyers (43%): Corporate planners, agencies, and leaders responsible for designing programs
- Sellers (57%): Suppliers to the incentives industry, DMOs, and DMCs
Additionally, it reflects input from 19 industries, ensuring a full market perspective for incentive travel trends.
The 2025 ITI offers validation, showing which program designs and destinations are working while demonstrating ROI backed by thousands of voices worldwide. The numbers aren’t abstract. They reflect what planners are doing every day to design programs that deliver meaning, spark connection, and support the goals of their organizations.
Activities That Define a Successful Incentive Program
The data makes one thing clear: People want experiences that feel meaningful, not just impressive. Luxury still matters, but it’s not what defines a great trip. The real value comes from connection.
Across all industries and regions, these experiences stand out as the true markers of a successful incentive travel program:
- Cultural sightseeing (60%)
- Group dining (58%)
- Relationship-building activities (53%)
- Free time (53%)
- Award celebrations (48%)
- Luxury experiences (44%)
For planners, this means investing in programming that creates connection—dinners, cultural immersion, and time to explore—instead of packing agendas with activities that don’t spark real engagement. Meaningful experiences deliver emotional ROI and engage your attendees, which translates to loyalty and performance.
- Focus on a few memorable shared activities
- Keep the agenda thoughtful, not packed
- Protect free time as part of the experience
- Use culture as a way to bring people together
Choosing Destinations That Inspire and Deliver
One of the biggest shifts in the 2025 ITI is how planners think about destinations. Creativity still matters, but not at the expense of access or safety. In other words, the destination has to be as practical as it is inspiring.
The winning incentive travel destinations are the ones that deliver both inspiration and confidence.
Must-haves:
- Direct air access (41%)
- High-quality accommodations (34%)
- Strong, trusted DMC partner (29%)
Deal-breakers:
- Safety concerns (47%)
- Hard-to-reach airports (40%)
- Geopolitical risk (38%)
Balancing Familiar and New—What the Data Shows About Destination Selection
Curiosity is back, but it’s paired with thoughtful decision-making. Planners want experiences that feel fresh and exciting, but only when the destination justifies the time, distance, and investment. Long-haul destinations are absolutely still on the table; they just need a strong purpose.
The 2025 ITI highlights several destination trends shaping planner decision-making:
- Seeking destinations they haven’t used before (69%)
- Booking new locations for 2026 and 2027 (63%)
- Operating without internal restrictions on long-haul travel (63%)
- Disagreeing that qualifiers will avoid long-haul travel for climate reasons (49%)
- Indicating that distance alone disqualifies a destination (13%)
The best incentive travel destination choices aren’t about chasing trends. They’re about aligning the right location with your brand story, audience preferences, and overall program goals. When those pieces connect, the destination becomes part of the impact.
Rising Costs and Emerging Challenges
The ITI also highlights the pressures planners are navigating behind the scenes. Some challenges demand immediate attention; others will shape incentive programs for years to come.
Planners are working hard to protect budgets and build flexibility into every decision. Long term, they’re planning for programs that are more purposeful and sustainable while focusing on talent engagement and loyalty.
Short-term challenges:
- Rising costs and inflation (38%)
- International instability (30%)
Long-term challenges:
- Attracting and retaining talent (30%)
- Ensuring adequate budgets (22%)
- Meeting sustainability expectations (20%)
A resilient plan keeps your program strong, even when the world isn’t.
- Build flexible budgets: Allow room for shifting prices and uncertain markets.
- Connect travel to retention: Use pre- and post-event surveys and performance metrics to show how incentive travel strengthens retention.
- Develop risk-ready plans: Set clear pivot points if flights, safety, or costs change.
- Prioritize visible sustainability: Incorporate local menus, responsible gifting, and reusable materials.
- Strengthen supplier partnerships: Leverage long-term relationships for better value and protection.
From Data to Direction
The 2025 ITI points to a clear shift in what makes incentive travel trends successful today. Purpose and practicality matter. And more than anything, human connection matters. Programs that combine these elements don’t just reward people—they strengthen culture and fuel long-term motivation.
Success now comes down to three things:
- Accessibility: Destinations and itineraries that feel seamless, safe, and inclusive.
- Clarity of purpose: Programs that reinforce company values and support performance goals.
- Connection: Meaningful shared experiences that bring people closer.
Bishop-McCann knows how to turn insight into action. Leveraging data like the ITI, we design incentive programs that are personal, strategic, and built to inspire top performers—all while delivering clear, measurable impact for the organization.
Get the New and Renovated Hotels Offer to explore new and renovated luxury hotels shaping the future of incentive travel programs—and plan your next incentive program with Bishop-McCann.
Frequently Asked Questions from the 2025 ITI Highlights
To help translate the data into practical insight, here are the top questions planners are asking about the 2025 ITI, and what the highlights reveal.
What activities matter most in a successful incentive trip?
Attendees value cultural and social experiences above everything else—especially sightseeing, shared meals, relationship-building activities, and protected free time.
What makes a destination truly work for an incentive program?
Safety and smooth access top the list. Corporate travel destinations with direct flights, strong DMC support, and reliable accommodations rise to the top, while those with safety risks or difficult travel quickly fall off.
What challenges are keeping planners up at night?
In the short term, rising costs and global instability are the biggest concerns. Looking ahead, planners are focused on talent retention, sustainability expectations, and stretching budgets further.
