Is Apple on the verge of doing an iTunes on the travel market? If you believe the submissions lodged with the US Patent and Trademark Office surrounding its rumoured iTravel service then it may be the case, and if so what's in store for the incentive travel and conference market?

The recession has knocked incentive travel off its rails in the last couple of years. Many companies have either not run motivation programmes (a mistake in our opinion), or looked for alternatives, for example, offering merchandise or still travelling but only within the UK.

Of course, budgetary constraints and negative PR were rightly considered, but now, as the economy picks up, the industry is looking increasingly back on track – and understandably so.