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ART CREDIT
they’re an incentive travel company or some kind of supplier organization, their business is recovering. That is encouraging.
What is Site doing to help articulate that story? That’s some of the work I’m excited to dive into. I think that there’s room for us to improve and really ensure that our messaging reflects the hard data around the psychology — kind of the art and science of why that kind of travel works. I think that that’s an evolution. We ‘re right
in the midst of kind of a three-year strategic- planning exercise — and communicating both to our members and beyond is a criti- cal part of that. We’ve got a lot of room to improve that message and then ensure that it’s being delivered to various stakeholders.
How has Site evolved in its 40-year history, and where in the world have you experienced growth in both travel and members? One of the things that I think Site has going for it is we’ve maintained a fairly specific focus on incentive travel. We’ve always had interna- tional members in Europe and North America. But as the world has gotten smaller, the asso- ciation has expanded to have members in countries throughout Asia, Africa, certainly the Caribbean, and South America, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Not every country within Africa is experiencing the same level of growth, but certainly South Africa and some of the other countries in southern Africa are growing and recognizing that they, too, can participate in the incentive travel business. Europe remains a very strong destination.
I mean for those of us particularly in the U.S., there’s the continued appeal of going to the various diverse cities and the different experi- ences that are available in Europe. We haven’t quite seen China pick up the
way we thought it would, but certainly we expect that India, China, and other countries in Asia will be [investing in] infrastructure [so they become] more viable for group travel. I’m very excited about our global footprint,
even though there are certainly places in the world where we’ve got room to grow, starting
with right here in North America. I think of destinations like Dubai and Abu Dhabi and places where we haven’t had a strong pres- ence. I’m really excited about looking at how do we work with the folks that are in those cities, whether on the buyer or supplier side, and allow them to share with our community what’s working there. Certainly to bring some exposure to that part of the world, which is growing incredibly fast. This evolution has largely been driven by
people that are working for incentive travel companies, DMCs, luxury hotel companies, a lot of entrepreneurs, certainly, as well as a number of the large incentive houses have been great supporters of Site over the years.
Tell us about some recent Site Founda- tion research. We recently did a study on DMCs and why working with destination management companies is a wise choice. Of course, the attendee of a meeting has no idea that a company called a destination management company even exists, but for those of us that have to create these experiences, we very much rely upon those local experts. And so this DMC study allowed us to dive into how to work with DMCs and what is it that they’re providing in order to create this experience? What [the study results]
the business. It’s just something that busi- ness leaders have to factor in and be able to explain that something that may look a little bit over the top for a destination, or a par- ticular hotel or hotel brand to be too nice or whatever the concern might be that is raised
— I think we’re seeing people focus on how they get beyond that. Data is going to continue to be important,
so we’re going to continue to invest in really understanding the psychology behind why incentives work — and in some cases, why it hasn’t worked. What were the things that went wrong with programs that had the appearance of having everything right but then didn’t have the end result? Because cer- tainly that’s going to happen. I think that’s an area where we maybe need to do a little bit more research.
ON THE WEB
Learn more about Site at siteglobal .com.
did is to help to validate for those folks around the world who are in some cases operating very small, regional businesses [how they are providing] an economic impact [in their communities]. Certainly, convention bureaus do great work in help- ing to market destinations. But a key ally, although different in structure, are DMCs.
What do you think has changed in terms of companies’ perception of the role of incentive travel to their success? I think any company that’s working with a Site member on putting together an incentive program already knew that there was value and there was return on their investment in this program. Any good incentive program is not just self-funding, but it’s helping to grow
Any last thoughts about your new role? Part of what attracts me to this industry is from a global standpoint — people meet people from other parts of the world. All of a sudden, they realize that we’re mostly the same. We speak different languages sometimes. We may wear different clothes or like to eat different things. But we’re all people. I think that’s kind of the power of this association. Kind of what incentive travel helps people to do is to see parts of the world and make a connection with
people from different cultures. And lastly, I want to add that it’s okay to
have fun at meetings and events! I think that’s one of the things [central to] every incentive program — if you don’t have fun, it’s dead in the water. For the folks who are involved in Site and
do this for a living, that’s kind of a starting point. It’s about focusing on the human expe- rience — and kind of finding that intersection between the human experience and the busi- ness purpose.
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Michelle Russell is editor in chief of Convene.
OCTOBER 2013 PCMA CONVENE 91