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Two recent surveys reveal sustainability initiatives to be a lower priority among planners.
When asked about absolute requirements for incentive event destinations in a recent survey of 69 incentive travel and motivational corporate event organizers from around the world (58 percent from North America), the need for all participants to be treated equally with respect topped the list. Sustainability was at the bottom, prompting SITE, which published the report with support from Hilton, to ask: “Given global concerns around climate change, is it surprising to find sustainability in last position when it comes to destination selection?”
Perhaps part of the reason why sustainability seems to be a nice-to-have — rather than need-to-have — element of incentive travel could be the other “storm clouds” hovering over incentive event organizers. Sixty-six out of the 69 planners surveyed are concerned with the impact of rising costs and inflation, and half of them are worried about geopolitical instability around the world. The growing urgency around climate change/climate justice was cited by only 12 corporate event organizers as a major concern or consideration when planning incentive travel.
The recently published The Business of Events’ (TBOE) International Planner Sentiment Report for 2024, created in partnership with Meet in Ireland and IBTM World, tells a similar tale. TBOE, a global think tank and advocacy network for the business events sector, created and managed by brand communications agency davies tanner, has been conducting the sentiment survey annually since 2020.
The 2024 report tracked the sentiment of more than 1,000 corporate and association planners, event agencies, and incentive and reward agencies to determine the key factors influencing their choice of destination. In terms of global distribution, nearly one-quarter of respondents were from the U.K.; more than half (53 percent) were from Europe; 19 percent from North America; and 4 percent from elsewhere.
“Perhaps the biggest and most surprising change in this year’s report,” according to TBOE, “is the reduction in importance of sustainability as a key decision factor, with this tracking around 1.5 points lower on average across the U.K. and Europe.”
TBOE attributed some of this waning interest to “‘sustainability fatigue,’ due to the level of focus on this topic over recent years.” But TBOE also said that discussions with some of the planners who contributed to this report revealed that while sustainability is still considered an important issue, there has been a shift in perception. “There is also a feeling that the need for strong sustainability practices, especially within venues, has made it become more of a utility requirement, and therefore expected, rather than something that is seen as value added,” according to the report.
The planner sentiment report tracked similarly to the SITE survey in terms of cost concerns and prioritizing equity and inclusion. Cost and value for money scored one point higher in every region surveyed over the 2023 survey, “reflecting increased event costs and pressure on overall budgets through higher inflation,” according to TBOE.
On the Web
- To learn how the U.K., Europe, and North America were ranked as host destinations on nine other criteria, from accessibility and ease of travel to cultural identity, visit https://the-business-of-events.com/tboe-planner-sentiment-report-2024/.
- Download the SITE survey.
Michelle Russell is editor in chief of Convene.