Key Insights and Trends Reported in 2026 Incentive Travel Index

The 2026 Incentive Travel Index (ITI) reports relative stability amid mounting pressures, with over 60% of respondents stating that geopolitical instability is already disrupting the destinations they use. While average spend per person is up by almost 8%, year-on-year, 62% forecast their incentive travel activity for 2027 will be about the same as in 2026, while almost 26% predict an increase. Securing airlift and airline capacity has become a much more prominent near-term challenge, cited by 40% of US buyers compared with 12% in last year’s Index.

The Executive Summary of the 2026 Incentive Travel Index:

• 2026 Survey: 2,017 respondents across 83 countries, of which 42.7% were buyers.
• Activity & Spending Trends: Average per-person spend was $5,500, rising 7.8% from the previous year.
• Risk Assessment: 60.5% said geopolitical instability is already disrupting the destinations they use.
• Destination Logic: Western Europe’s net momentum was +29.3% (net buyers planning to use the destination more), the strongest-momentum destination of 2026.
• Strategic Planning: 2-in-5 buyers say destination choice is highly aligned with what qualifiers would choose for themselves.
• AI Adoption: 60% use AI for three or more applications, and more than 1-in-5 for five or more.

For additional key findings and detailed analysis of the 2026 Incentive Travel Index study as well as reports from previous years, visit https://www.incentiveindex.com/.

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About the Incentive Travel Index

This is the eighth year of the collaboration between IRF and the SITE Foundation on the Incentive Travel Index. With research partner Oxford Economics, the organizations have again created an indispensable annual report on the state of incentive travel, providing data on current and future evolution.