DESPITE the difficult global economic climate, corporates seem committed to the use of incentive travel as a powerful motivator of business results.

Uwin Iwin ceo, David Sand, says growth is coming from businesses that have expanded into Africa and have qualifiers from pan-African destinations.

“Destination selection is still largely influenced by the company’s past track record of travel and the level of experience previously achieved. Safe, exciting, visa-free destinations are certainly winning more business.”

Constance Hotels & Resorts MICE sales manager, Juan Nel, is finding that corporates are increasingly looking for more luxurious properties, but for smaller groups.

“The number of nights has stayed the same the last few years, with most corporates considering three- to four-night stays.” 

In terms of destinations, the popularity for incentive groups change all the time, says FedAir Charter Manager, Rachel Muir. It also depends heavily on how big the group is and which destination can accommodate the group. “Group sizes vary from 30 guests travelling at any one time to over 500. We often need to make use of multiple aircraft. For this we confirm aircraft usage as soon as we receive a written confirmation from our client, to ensure that we do not disappoint. In instances where the runways are large, such as Livingstone in Zambia, we would make use of one large aircraft,” she says.