Sometimes things are not as they seem. How about Lapland once Santa has packed up and gone? Rachel from our Design Team had the chance to assess first-hand what northern Finland can offer incentive travel groups and what effect any stereotype - Santa, sleighs (even motorised ones), reindeer and snow – has on its attraction?

The winds of change in the aviation market have been blowing for a long time and have gradually changed the climate for incentive travel. The recent announcement that Dubai International is now the world’s second busiest international airport, and will overtake Heathrow by 2015, is a significant shift away from the old order and will have equally significant implications for the longer-term evolution of the incentive travel market.

One thing we love about Canada is it’s big! Big on contrasts, surprises, scenery and hospitality. And lesser known Alberta is potentially the biggest of the lot when it comes to delivering a big, ‘wow’ laden experience for incentive travel groups!

Corporate social responsibility and incentive travel can be viewed as mutually exclusive so can it be the case that it is possible to deliver knockout delegate experiences and do more than pay just lip service to CSR?

At the turn of the year our Events Design team were asked for some quick fire suggestions for destinations we’d love to pitch in 2013, and ones that could be a reality should a client have the will and resources to make it happen. My suggestion was out of this world, literally. A trip to the edge of space.

Designing an event for clients who want something more exquisite, less traditional and highly personal is one of the most challenging areas of event design. This is mainly due to the incredibly wide choice of options that open up to you, especially when budgets are not the primary consideration for the event.

A flight from Gatwick to Italy on a grey Saturday winter’s morning was not something to look forward to when the alarm clock was set for 5.00 am, the previous working week had been long, and the 12.5 tog duvet seemed particularly heavy, but I was off to take a whirlwind look at the Castello di Casole.

Decay, economic tumbleweed, living on past glories and bleak are adjectives often used when talking about Detroit, Michigan. So where better to include on a business incentive travel trip!

The perpetual challenge for the incentive travel designer is resolving the conflicting demands of new and accessible, and managing to deliver great experiences within the budgets allowed. This is amplified when a client is extremely well travelled, is Five Star Plus and has traversed the globe many times. Time to think different…

Incentive travel is all about the ‘wow factor’. The world is getting smaller and people are becoming more well-travelled, especially those who work in global businesses, so this means that incentive event boundaries need to be pushed to provide a money-can’t-buy adventure which will motivate people to strive to earn a place. In addition, the experience must also create a lasting memory for those delegates involved and create a legend in company culture to motivate for the year after the event has taken place.