Adoption of AI within the incentive travel industry is at an early stage, with the technology’s potential still uncertain. Photo Credit: Adobe Stock/khunkornStudio
Some incentive planners are embracing AI for content generation and
its ability to update attendees with valuable information such as
weather or schedule changes in real time. Others, however, question AI’s
accuracy for sourcing local activities and experiences and fear it
could also have potential budget impact on DMCs.
These were some of the findings from recent research by the Incentive Research Foundation entitled AI: Uses and possibilities for incentive professionals.
The report explored AI’s current use in incentive travel programmes and
challenges, as well as industry perspectives from suppliers and
programme owners, including corporate event planners, DMCs and hotels.
Enhancing efficiency with AI
The adoption of AI within the incentive industry is at an early
stage, with the majority of incentive professionals saying that AI tools
can help improve efficiency levels by anticipating and answering
questions attendees may have, particularly those relating to details
such as pick-ups, drop offs and expenses.
Research respondents said that much of this information is often
already included in registration details; by using AI to respond to such
requests, incentive professionals have more time to address more
complex queries.
Content generation and itinerary planning
Tools such as ChatGPT are increasingly being used for content
generation such as drawing up incentive itineraries, programme
communications, brainstorming themes, and session descriptions.
One DMC noted that clients are asking for “wow” options, and are
happy for AI to be incorporated into the process around proposal
responses and destination copy, as long as they can’t find the same
programme or experiences themselves using ChatGPT or a similar tool.
DMCs can showcase their value and expertise by giving recommendations to
their clients based on their experience.
Supplier concerns: budgets and local knowledge
Suppliers contributing to the research expressed concerns, however,
that incentive programme owners could ultimately choose to either slash
DMC budgets or take more of the planning internally, based on the
capabilities of generative AI. They questioned whether AI will become
informed enough to be able to find specific activities and experiences
locally.
Measurement, reporting and audience profiling
AI is also increasingly being used for measurement and reporting,
with one corporate planner explaining that it is using AI to run its
surveys through, “to give it direction on sentiment, themes, areas of
happiness or dissatisfaction”.
Incentive programme owners and third parties are also increasingly
using AI to analyse patterns and trends in performance of incentives
against specific KPIs.
Survey respondents also suggested that generative AI can also help to
build more robust audience profiles. It could be used to identify
patterns within past survey responses to understand the differences,
such as generational or motivating factors, between past winners and
those who are attending incentives for the first time.