SITE
Different strokes
NEW DATA FROM THE INCENTIVE TRAVEL INDEX REVEALS THAT BRITISH BUYERS MARCH TO A DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT DRUMBEAT FROM SOME IN MAINLAND EUROPE, SAYS PÁDRAIC GILLIGAN, HEAD OF RESEARCH & CONSULTANCY, SITE
F or the first time in the
history of the Incentive Travel Index, we have separated British buyers from their European counterparts.
This wasn’ t an arbitrary decision. Brexit meant regulatory frameworks diverged. The simple geographical reality of being an island nation reasserted itself. We suspected British buyer behaviour might be drifting away from continental norms, but suspicion isn’ t data.
Now we have data. And what it reveals is both expected and startling.
Because what emerges from this year ' s Index is not just a marginal shift in preference, a rounding error in the spreadsheet, but a fundamentally different vision of what incentive travel should deliver. British buyers and European buyers are no longer reading from the same playbook. They’ re not even playing the same game.
The Gulf supremacy Let’ s start with the most striking finding: the Gulf region sits atop British buyer preferences at 100 %, a commanding, unambiguous lead that demands explanation.
By contrast, the Gulf ranks fourth among European buyers at 56 % in 2024. Respectable, certainly, but hardly the passionate embrace that British buyers have shown. For GB buyers, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman aren ' t just options on a list. They’ re the default. The starting point. The obvious choice. Why this divergence? Partly it ' s pragmatic. Direct flights from multiple UK airports, English as the working language, world-class infrastructure delivered at breathtaking speed, and a hospitality sector that understands British corporate expectations with almost unsettling precision.
But there ' s something deeper at work. The Gulf offers a particular
Above: Pádraic Gilligan vision of luxury and modernity that resonates powerfully with British corporate culture. Ambitious, polished, unapologetically aspirational, gleamingly new. European buyers, with their own proximity to Mediterranean warmth and Alpine grandeur, perhaps feel less need for what the Gulf provides. British buyers, it seems, cannot get enough of it.
The elephant that left the room And then there ' s the United States.
Once the highly prized king of incentive travel destinations, the USA has now disappeared entirely from the top ten for both British and European buyers. Not declined. Not slipped a few places. Vanished.
For European buyers, the USA sat at 40 % in 2024 and didn ' t even make the 2025 rankings. For British buyers, it doesn ' t appear at all. This is not a statistical blip. This is a wholesale rejection of a destination that, until very recently, was considered essential.
The reasons are not difficult to discern. The current US political regime has generated profound unease across Europe and Britain alike. Corporate buyers are risk-averse by nature, and the United States now carries reputational risk that many organisations simply will not accept. Add to that the practical complications of visa processing, increasingly aggressive border enforcement, and a general sense that American hospitality no longer feels as welcoming as it once did, and you have a perfect storm of disincentives.
The incentive travel industry tends to avoid discussing politics openly, preferring the safer ground of logistics and ROI. But this data speaks louder than any panel discussion ever could. The United States has made itself unwelcome, and the market has responded with clarity.
The Americas, reconsidered Interestingly, British buyers have not abandoned the Americas entirely. They ' ve simply redirected their gaze
12 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / ISSUE 141