Incentive - July 2008 - (Page 57)

TRAVEL Branded Spas PAGE 60 Beyond the Table PAGE 65 The proliferation of name-brand spas allow winners to bring luxurious treatment home with them Gaming remains a popular draw in Vegas and Reno, but has to make room for many other activities Maybe Next Year Travel Industry Assn: 41 million trips avoided this year By Alex Palmer T he news isn’t getting any better for the travel industry. Frustrations with flying spurred air travelers to avoid 41 million trips (including 12 million business trips) in the past year, according to a report by the Travel Industry Association (TIA), a Washington D.C.– based nonprofit trade organization that represents the travel industry. According to the research, which was conducted by polling firms Peter D. Hart Research Associates and The Winston Group, this trip avoidance, due to issues such as airline delays, cancellations and inefficient security (the survey was conducted before fees for first checked luggage items were introduced), has cost the U.S. economy $26 billion. Roger Dow, president and CEO of TIA, sees these figures as a sign that travel challenges need to be viewed as a critical issue by elected officials and the public at large. “This is right up there with health care and it’s right up there with the economy,” says Dow. To that end, Dow and a group of representatives from the travel industry met with presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain about a month ago, and expect to meet with presumed Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, in the near future as they seek to move travel troubles to the center of the national debate. “[Travel] is the backbone and foundation of how America gets its job done, whether it’s for business or for leisure,” says Dow. Though the report did not separate incentive from individual and business travel, Dow does sound a note of optimism for this type of group travel. “The one thing group travel has going for it is, there is usually a compelling reason to be at that meeting. If someone has won a big event, they’re going to want to go on that trip.” He says that despite Americans’ recent aversion to travel, there remain exceptions in corporate travel. Gloria Landow, president of Hauppauge, N.Y.– based Group Travel Specialists, supports this view. In her recent experiences and conversations with hoteliers, she says, while corporate meetings might even be impacted, incentive travel has proven less susceptible to the trip-avoidance trend. “You always think of ROI when it comes to incentive trips, that they should really pay for themselves,” says Landow. “Unless goals are not met and the industry that [participants] are in is not doing well, it really does not come into play I really haven’t seen much of a problem.” Send comments to alex.palmer@incentivemag.com Six-Year High The 2008 IMEX: The Worldwide Exhibition for Incentive Travel, Meetings and Events was the strongest yet, organizers say Total buyers: 8,751 Total buyer increase over 2007: 5.3 percent Online appointments made: 40,000 Increase in online appointments over 2007: 30 percent Most represented industries: (1) pharmaceutical (2) financial and banking (3) electronics, telecom, and IT incentivemag.com | July 2008 | Incentive | 57 http://incentivemag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Incentive - July 2008

Incentive - July 2008 Contents Editor’s Note: Accentuate the Positive In The News Cover Story: Three Profiles in Good Corporate Citizenship Case Study Incentive Interview Senior Secrets To Thine Own Self be True Incentive Primer Motivation@Work Travel News: Where To Go and What To Do Take the Spa Home Not the Only Game in Town Here and Now Writing and Desktop Gifts Watches and Clocks Gift Cards: Health and Wellness Incentives Good Health Is Not Its Own Incentive Advertiser Index Last Word

Incentive - July 2008

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