SITE
Building and bridging cultures – Incentive Travel ’ s higher purpose
SITE CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER PÁDRAIC GILLIGAN MEETS SOME TRAVELLING FREE SPIRITS AND APPLAUDS THEIR PHILOSOPHY
I was reminded recently how live events unleash way more than the simple sum of their parts . I was live and in-person in Barcelona recently for IBTMWorld and , during a camp fire chat at the show , I met a very special duo , a mother and daughter , who truly believe in , nay , live , the transformational power of travel experiences .
For some time now SITE has been talking about travel as transformation , taking inspiration for the likes of Mark Twain (‘ Travel is the enemy of bigotry ”) and Cesare Pavese (‘ Travel is a brutality ”). We ’ ve been positing that incentive travel experiences deliver multifarious benefits , even connected with real meaning and purpose .
For the companies that pay for them , and the destinations that host them , there ’ s the obvious tangible financial return . The companies , of course , also get the intangible benefits of esprit de corps , culture building , relationship reinforcement and so on .
For the individuals that qualify , the benefits are even more multi-layered . There ’ s the sheer enjoyment factor of being hosted in an amazing destination , usually at some level of style . There ’ s the bonding experience too , often with the senior leadership in the company .
But the biggest potential benefit comes if and when the travel experience involves some level of personal challenge that takes the qualifier out of their comfort zone ; something that highlights that you ’ re in a different country with a different culture , language , culinary scene . This is where travel as transformation begins .
Yvonne Otto and Kayleen Otto rocked up at the SITE booth at IBTMWorld for a session I hosted on ‘ Building & Bridging Cultures – Incentive Travel ’ s Higher Purpose ’. Yvonne worked for over 20 years in the world of incentive travel so understands the entire business process . More recently she ’ s been focusing on travel photography – “ Picturing the beautiful planet and combining pictures with strong messages , towards more consciousness , awareness and a better attitude ”.
Kayleen , meanwhile , is 17 years of age and describes herself on her site , theyoungtravelers . world in the following
Left : Yvonne and Kayleen , Foundation Day in Saudi terms : “ Since 2011 my roaming soul , my aspiration to get to know Earth , humans , and cultures and to carve out every little bit that gives meaning to the word ‘ essence ’, has , with the passing of days , months and years , become the perpetual craft of my life ”.
Yvonne has visited almost 100 countries while Kayleen has been to 51 . The manner of their travel is remarkable : in February 2023 they spent weeks couch-surfing in Saudi Arabia – two women , no chaperone in Saudi ? Trips on the radar include Tanzania , Uganda , Canada , USA and Japan . Travel is the enemy of bigotry , indeed .
Yvonne and Kayleen are clearly free intrepid souls who take on the transformation project by casting caution to the wind and embracing the diverse magnificence of planet Earth and the fragile , flawed humanity that lives on it . Clearly it ’ s not so easy for a corporation and even those “ hippy ” corporations with free spirit tendencies are limited by duty of care protocols etc .
That said , Yvonne and Kayleen have an inspiring lesson for us . We must design our incentive travel experiences with more than mere superficial results in mind . We must take Kayleen ’ s manifesto to heart : “ Getting to know the true meaning of a country , learning from life , cultures also exchanging cultures , people , and circumstances while traveling , this is what I travel for . When I travel , my purpose is to learn a new way of life and to gain a greater understanding of the planet we live on . To learn about a new culture , a new language , a new way of life , to find wisdom long lost , knowledge I can implement in my everyday life …” And so say all of us . n
ISSUE 128 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 23