Oct 3, 2007 6:03 AM, PROMO P&I, By Amy Johannes
Amy.Johannes@penton.com

Spending on incentive travel, motivational meetings and special events was $77 billion in 2006, a recent study by the Incentive Research Foundation found.

Two-thirds of U.S. companies used one or more of these initiatives in 2006. Of the overall amount, $13.4 billion was spent on incentive travel (an award earned based on performance), $25.9 billion on motivational meetings and $37.8 billion on special events (stand alone events that include business meetings, sales meetings and social customer gatherings), according to the 2007 Industry Profile Study: “The Market for Incentive Travel, Motivational Meetings and Special Events in the United States.”

Ten percent of large and small companies combined used incentive travel last year, while 50% used motivational meetings and 55% used special events. But overall, large firms (with annual revenue of more than $100 million) were partial to special events with 81% using the tactic; 61% used motivational meetings and 23% favored incentive travel in 2006.

The most common goal of incentive travel was for sales incentives, said Rodger Stotz, vice president, managing consultant of Maritz Inc. and trustee of the Incentive Research Foundation’s research committee. Other goals included maintaining high morale and improving productivity, the study said.

The average incentive travel budget was $164,271 while the standard budget for special events was $78,029 and the average motivational meeting budget cost $68,330.

More than half of large companies said their budgets for motivational meetings increased over the last two years, with 41% saying their budgets remained the same. Meanwhile, more than half of large companies said they believe spending on incentive travel will increase over the next two years; 37% said the budgets would remain the same, the survey said.

For special events, four in 10 large firms said their special events budgets increased over the last year, where 44% said the budgets have stayed the same.

The study surveyed 1,121 small and large companies.

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