The days of companies splurging on longhaul incentive trips post-lockdown are winding down, with companies increasingly more cost-conscious and rewarding their winners with destinations in Asia-Pacific instead.
Petrina Goh, regional commercial director, South-east Asia & Hong Kong, CWT Meetings & Events, told TTGmice that Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia are popular incentive choices “given the prevailing economic uncertainty”.
“The proximity of these countries means lower travel costs for APAC-based groups compared to travelling further out, and they also offer excellent value for money in terms of accommodation, catering, and activities. These destinations are also rich in culture and diverse in their offsite activity offerings such as tours, unique dinner venues and entertainment acts for the social elements of an event programme,” she elaborated.
Goh has also noticed that there is a shift away from major cities like Bangkok, Hanoi, and Bali, and a “growing interest in less-explored secondary cities” like Pattaya, Koh Samui, Phu Quoc, Nha Trang and Yogyakarta, where the “crowds are smaller, and there’s a greater sense of novelty”.
She added: “As flight schedules slowly build up to these cities, airfare costs are becoming more manageable as well.”
Group sizes, Goh noticed, have also scaled down to around 100 to 250 participants on average, which is a “perfect group size for the current MICE infrastructure in secondary cities”.
Corporate groups numbering in the thousands as well as companies without deep pockets are also looking towards Asia-Pacific destinations for their events.
Theresa Teo, sales manager group sales, Singapore, Miki Travel (HK) Limited, has noticed that “big groups gravitate towards Asian destinations like South Korea and Thailand”, where there are large-scale venues and more direct flights.
Barbara Sew, senior reservation and groups executive, The Travel Corporation, agreed: “Companies with not very high budgets will opt for South Korea and Japan. For these destinations, we can build a programme itinerary for groups from a few hundred to the thousands.”
Patrick Kam, director of MICE Maestro, noted that Bangkok and Bali remain popular destinations for large groups of more than 3,000. Some of his clients have also opted to head to Vietnam and Cambodia.
Regardless of whether the destination is in Asia-Pacific or farther afield, Sew encourages corporates to plan ahead to “book at least six months in advance”, because logistics post-lockdown “can be really challenging”.
Goh added that organisations have also been “more demanding in their expectations around pricing in order to meet budgets”, but pointed out that instead of splurging on an extravagant firework display for example, “smaller, personal touches” such as a welcome message will also go a long way in creating an amazing attendee experience.
