What a landmark new study reveals about Gen Z and the future of incentive travel

Incentive planners for decades have assumed the person they’re designing for is a high-earning salesperson, probably with a few trips already under their belt and motivated by competition, recognition and the prestige of winning. The Generational Incentive Travel Study, released earlier this year by the Society for Incentive Travel Executives (SITE), may be the most significant piece of research the industry has produced in years — not because it validates that assumption, but because it demolishes it.

The study surveyed 960 qualified respondents across four generations — Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z — all of whom had participated in employer-sponsored incentive programs offering travel within the past three years. The result is a deep dataset of 186 quantitative variables, more than a dozen open-text responses, and insights that the researchers themselves describe as still being fully unpacked.

“We’re just scratching the surface of the findings,” said Benoit Sauvage, Founder and Chairman of Connect DMC, in a webinar on the study findings. “What is the most important thing here? How can we read the data and redesign our programs.”

The short answer is, “substantially.”

Who Is Actually Winning These Trips?

Before the study gets to motivation, it delivers a finding that reframes everything that follows. When the researchers asked who — exactly — is qualifying for and winning incentive travel, the profile that emerged looked almost nothing like the one the industry has long assumed.

“What do you think a typical incentive travel qualifier looks like? The [study results] will completely challenge every single assumption,” added Sauvage.

He wasn’t overstating it. Sixty percent of respondents work in operations or technology — not sales. Less than 10% are in sales roles at all. Fewer than 10% work remotely; the vast majority are on-site workers. And 80% earn less than $150,000 a year. The industry has, for the most part, been designing programs as if it were speaking to one kind of worker while actually delivering the reward to a much broader, more diverse workforce.

Sauvage notes only 10% of them work in sales; the rest tend to be on-site workers. “I’m seeing tons of opportunities,” he added. “How can we reach an audience we never ever thought of reaching before?”

The industry breakdown was similarly surprising. While financial services, healthcare and technology are the familiar faces of incentive travel sponsorship, the survey captured meaningful participation from construction (11%) and logistics sectors that have historically been on the margins of the conversation. The incentive travel industry, it turns out, may be considerably larger than it has imagined itself to be.

Travel Still Wins — But Gen Z Is a Different Audience

Against that backdrop, the study’s core motivational findings land with particular force. When respondents across all generations were asked to rate the motivating power of different incentive reward types, travel — both individual and group — came out on top by a wide margin. Sixty-one percent rated individual travel “extremely motivating,” the highest possible score. Group travel followed at 50%. Cash, gift cards, debit and points, gala events and merchandise all trailed behind.

But when those same numbers are broken down by generation, the picture becomes more complicated — and for incentive designers, more instructive.

Gen Z is consistently less extremely motivated than older generations across almost every reward category. The gap is most pronounced for individual travel (54% of Gen Z rate it “extremely motivating,” versus 63% for Gen X and Boomers) and for private recognition (31% versus 40%). The one exception is merchandise, where Gen Z scores slightly higher than other generations.

“When you’re coming out of your parent’s nest as a Gen Z, you need a lot of stuff. You have a new apartment, new everything,” Sauvage pointed out. “So maybe this is one of the factors why they are more motivated by merchandise.”

More significant is what the data says about group travel: Gen Z is notably more likely to actively dislike it. Thirteen percent of Gen Z respondents said they dislike group travel, compared to around 7% of older generations. Work-life balance concerns registered highest for Gen Z as well at 29%, the largest of any cohort.

None of this means Gen Z isn’t interested in travel. Individual travel remains their top motivator and group travel still ranks in the top tier.

The webinar presenters emphasized the issue isn’t that Gen Z is not motivated by travel, but that traditional program design may not be hitting their travel motivational sweet spot. As Sauvage said, “The program designs matter more, not less, for the Gen Z audience.”

Performance Anxiety and the Achievement Gap

Perhaps the most nuanced — and most actionable — finding in the study concerns not motivation itself, but the emotional and psychological experience Gen Z has around competing for a travel reward.

When researchers asked what motivates respondents to actually pursue earning a group travel award, the top three drivers were the same across generations: The intrinsic satisfaction of achievement itself (56%), the travel experience (52%) and recognition from leadership (51%). These are deeply consistent findings that confirm incentive travel’s unique position as a reward that combines extrinsic and intrinsic value in ways nothing else quite replicates.

But for Gen Z, the path to that reward is complicated by something older generations experience much less: anxiety.

That anxiety shows up starkly in the data on emotional framing. When asked what a group travel experience means to them personally, 58% to 59% of Millennials, Gen X and Boomers describe it as “a feeling of achievement” — a marker of professional accomplishment. For Gen Z, that figure drops to 44%. Meanwhile, “a sense of pressure or obligation” is felt by only 10% of older generations, compared to 21% of Gen Z respondents.

At the same time, Gen Z is more likely to see incentive travel as “a once-in-a-lifetime experience” (25% versus approximately 20% for older generations). They see the trip differently — less as a professional milestone and more as an adventure and an experience worth having in its own right. It’s not that Gen Z doesn’t like incentive travel. It’s more that they reject the performative prestige, rigidity and pressure underlying some traditional incentive travel program design, the presenters said.

Transparency, the researchers argued, is the antidote to performance anxiety — and a largely untapped tool. Giving younger participants more context upfront about what winning looks like, what the experience will entail and what is actually expected of them can significantly reduce the stress that suppresses their motivation to pursue the award.

The Trip Still Works — When You Build the Connection

For corporate buyers making the case for incentive travel investment, the study’s impact data is the most straightforwardly compelling section. Among respondents who had attended a trip, agreement ratings across 11 different impact statements were uniformly high — all above 83% top-two box. Ninety-four percent said the experience was fun; 93% said they were eager and energized to win again; 89% said the incentive made them more likely to stay in their job; 89% reported stronger loyalty to the sponsoring company.

“Incentives are highly recognized, they’re highly valued and they do work,” said Sauvage. “They do inspire every single generation, even if it’s a bit less for Gen Z.”

That qualifier matters. Gen Z who attended a trip rated it positively — but measurably less so than older cohorts. “Made me feel valued and appreciated” was cited by 94% to 95% of older generations, compared to 85% of Gen Z. Job retention intent was 90% to 91% for older cohorts versus 85% for Gen Z. Loyalty to the sponsor was 91% to 92% versus 83%. This indicates that the experience works for Gen Z, but the emotional connection between winning and feeling valued is weaker. The study suggests that program design — specifically, on-trip recognition moments, personalization and leadership engagement — can be used to close the gap.

What the data also reveals is that preferences shift once Gen Z actually experiences a group trip. The presenters pointed out that there is a distinction between preference and perception versus impact once they’ve experienced a travel incentive. If they still have a preference for individual travel after a group trip, they suggested that the event designers need to ask how well they really understand our audience. Are we giving them what they need?

How Gen Z Wants to Experience Leadership

The question of how Gen Z relates to leadership on an incentive trip generated some of the webinar’s most pointed exchange — and some of its most practically useful guidance.

The data shows that recognition from executive sponsors and leaders is one of the top motivators for winning the travel award. But the style and format of that recognition matter enormously to Gen Z, in ways that can easily go wrong if designers aren’t paying attention. Instead of the traditional scheduled sit-down with leadership, they prefer more organic, serendipitous ways to connect.

Structured time with the CEO, in other words, can produce exactly the opposite of the intended effect — amplifying rather than alleviating the pressure and obligation that already sits higher for Gen Z than any other generation.

As SITE CEO Annette Gregg said in the webinar, “It may be your 47th incentive trip, but it could be that person’s very first time. Please try to change your perspective on this. It’s not your trip. It’s their trip.”

The data on gala awards also carries a clear signal for program designers. Gen Z rated formal award ceremonies low on the list of desirable experiences — even when they themselves were the winners. Even if they win, they don’t want the award ceremony, the presenters said. Instead of walking on stage to get an award at a gala, they would rather have a unique VIP experience they would never get access to otherwise. That to them represents access and experiences.

Sustainability and community involvement also emerged as meaningful differentiators for Gen Z — not top-ranked, but meaningfully more important to this generation than to older cohorts. Many Gen Zers even choose their employer according to their internal policies. This was backed in a related survey that found 56% of Gen Z respondents saying they would reject a property or destination that didn’t align with their values.

Destination Preferences: Closer and More Adventurous

When it comes to where Gen Z wants to go, the findings are counterintuitive — and highly directional.

Contrary to the assumption that younger workers are hungry to explore the world, Gen Z respondents show a higher preference for U.S. domestic destinations (48%) than older generations (41% to 43%). The researchers hypothesized several explanations: they’re earlier in their careers, less frequent travelers, and may simply find domestic destinations more novel than colleagues who have been to many of the same places.

But zoom in on international preferences and a very different appetite emerges. When Gen Z does want to go international, Africa tops their list as a first-choice destination — chosen by 32% of Gen Z respondents, compared to just 12% to 15% of older generations. For a North American-skewing sample, that’s a striking result, and it speaks to something the researchers repeatedly returned to: Gen Z’s appetite for novelty, authenticity and the unexpected.

On trip themes, all-inclusive resorts led across all generations — a finding that reflects a broader shift the researchers have been tracking anecdotally as well. As the presenters explained, every major hotel consortium and chain is moving toward all-inclusive.

Gen Z also strongly favors city and urban immersion as a trip theme (13% first choice, versus 6% for older generations) and shows the lowest interest in cruises of any generation (4% versus 10% for Gen X and Boomers). Action and adventure themes appeal consistently across all ages (20% to 23%). So a mix of city experiences and adventure activities with very high-end luxury accommodation should scratch everyone’s incentive itch.

The Plus-One Problem — and the Fun Imperative

Two design themes surfaced repeatedly in the webinar’s discussion that the data underlines but that don’t always make it into formal program design conversations: who Gen Z brings with them, and whether the program is genuinely fun.

On the guest question, the researchers noted a significant shift in how “plus-one” is being interpreted by younger workers. Whereas a spouse or partner has long been the assumed guest for incentive travel, Gen Z is increasingly likely to bring a friend, a parent or another non-romantic companion. And this choice reshapes the entire trip dynamic.

“If the plus-one is a spouse, you want some downtime, you want to enjoy the property — just you and your partner catching up,” said Sauvage. “But if you bring a friend, then you look for more adventure. You want to discover more. You want to immerse yourself in the culture.”

Guest flexibility, the data showed, is one of the single strongest predictors of how valued and special winners feel — making it a leverage point with outsized impact for relatively low design cost.

On fun: One presenter said near the close of the session that the fun factor “really makes a difference” — a word that can feel almost too simple in conversations about program architecture and ROI, but one the research supports directly. Incentive travel offers something that almost no other workplace experience can: a sanctioned, company-funded space to be genuinely playful.

Designing for a Generation That Doesn’t Know It Yet

Complementing the SITE findings, Hilton’s independently conducted “World’s Most Welcoming Events” study reached many of the same conclusions from a different angle. Hilton’s research, tested across more than 200 internal events ranging from 10 to 9,000 attendees, identified a consistent theme: A generation that has grown up with hybrid work, social media and heightened self-awareness is arriving at professional events carrying more anxiety than planners have historically accounted for.

Seventy-nine percent of Gen Z respondents said they felt anxious about what to wear to a professional event — a figure that, while striking, wasn’t dramatically different from the 67% of all attendees who reported the same. Seventy-eight percent said they wanted quiet spaces at events; 68% said events are too long; 61% wanted structured meet-and-greet moments to ease the social anxiety of arriving in a room where everyone seems to already know each other.

“Reducing uncertainty means reducing stress,” said Kim Napolitano, executive director of industry relations and intermediary group sales in Hilton Worldwide Sales, Americas. “We as designers need to think about that newcomer experience — the person walking into a room where everyone else seems to know each other. We forget that there are newcomers to this wonderful community, and we have to make them feel welcome.”

That idea — meeting newcomers where they are, rather than where veterans assume they should be — may be the deepest design principle to emerge from both studies. Gen Z is not apathetic about travel. They are not indifferent to recognition. They are not fundamentally

different from earlier generations in what they ultimately want from an incentive experience. What they are is new to it — and arriving with a different set of reference points, a different relationship to group dynamics and a lower baseline of trust that the experience will be designed with them in mind.

The data tells us they are motivated. They just need more context, more transparency and more intention to counterbalance the anxiety they have, especially if they haven’t participated in an incentive travel experience before.

Ultimately, these findings can be seen as challenging some of the industry’s most persistent assumptions.

Travel incentives work across every generation, including Gen Z. The business case — retention, loyalty and motivation to win again — remains as strong as it has ever been. But the workforce winning these trips is broader, younger and more diverse than it was even a few years ago. And that workforce doesn’t automatically connect the dots between winning and feeling genuinely valued.

“It’s just a matter of redesign,” Sauvage noted. “We don’t accommodate only Gen Z. You accommodate across the board when you create and launch a program. The good news: What they want is the flexibility to have their own downtime, to choose their plus-one, to have an experience that is built around them.”

Build that and they will come. The data says so.

Note: The SITE Generational Incentive Travel Study was conducted January 30 – March 6, 2026, with 960 qualified respondents across Boomer, Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z generations. All participants had the opportunity to earn travel through employer-sponsored incentive or recognition programs within the past three years. Hilton’s “World’s Most Welcoming Events” research was conducted in partnership with Ipsos in 2024 (US) and 2025 (global).

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