Last updated October 2026. These are the incentive travel statistics that matter for a 2027 President’s Club: what trips cost, where buyers send winners, what winners value and what programs return.
Every figure comes from 2024–2026 research by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), SITE, Amex GBT and the IRS, linked to its source. Dollar figures are market benchmarks, not J.Shay pricing. We refresh this page every October at the same URL.
- $5,100 average spend per person worldwide in 2025; $6,000 in North America (MPI, 2025)
- 8% rise in per-person spend in 2026 (Northstar, 2026)
- 12% → 40% planners naming airlift a top challenge, 2025 to 2026 (Northstar, 2026)
- 89% of recent winners are more likely to stay with their employer (SITE and Maritz, 2026)
- $8,600+ top-tier sales trip at top performers, against about $6,700 elsewhere (IRF, 2025)
Average incentive travel spend per person, 2025
US dollars per participant. Source: 2025 Incentive Travel Index (IRF and SITE), as reported by MPI.
- $5,100 average incentive travel spend per person worldwide in 2025, up 4% on the year (IRF, 2026)
- $6,000 average per person for North American programs; Europe averaged $3,200 after a 20% drop (MPI, 2025)
- 8% rise in per-person spend in 2026 compared with 2025 (Northstar, 2026)
- Nearly half of total program budgets now goes to hotel, air and food and beverage (MPI, 2025)
- 83% of planners expect cost per attendee for incentives and special events to rise in 2027 (Amex GBT via Luxury Travel Advisor, 2026)
- 63% of buyers name rising costs as their biggest long-term challenge (Northstar, 2026)
- 25% of buyers expect to trim per-person spending in 2026, while 50% expect budgets to match inflation (IRF, 2026)
- 45% of organizations trim per-person spend by reducing gifting, the most common lever, ahead of cheaper destinations (42%) and shorter trips (42%) (IRF, 2026)
Incentive travel destinations and air access
Air access now decides the shortlist: the share of planners naming airlift a top challenge more than tripled in a year. Buyers want somewhere new, safe and close.
- 40% of incentive professionals name securing airlift a top short-term challenge in 2026, up from 12% in 2025 (Northstar, 2026)
- 41% cite direct air access as a destination must-have, the most common answer; 40% rank difficult air access the second-biggest deterrent (IRF, 2026)
- 73% cite personal safety as their top destination consideration, ahead of cost and geopolitical stability (MPI, 2025)
- Nearly 70% of buyers are actively seeking destinations they have never used; 63% already have one booked for 2026 or 2027 (MPI, 2025)
- 44% are deliberately choosing shorter-haul destinations (MPI, 2025)
- 9 of 10 of the top ten booked incentive destinations are in Mexico or the Caribbean, led by Playa del Carmen, Nassau and San José del Cabo (Cvent booking data) (IRF, 2024)
What changed in one year: 2025 vs 2026
Share of respondents. Source: 2026 Incentive Travel Index (IRF and SITE), as reported by Northstar Meetings Group.
Destination by destination: President’s Club destinations 2027. Shortlist your own in the destination finder.
Incentive program design and personalization
The programs that perform are mid-sized, five nights or longer and shaped around what each winner wants.
- 5+ nights and groups of 11 to 50 both perform strongly (SITE and Maritz, 2026)
- 52% of sales employees prefer 4–6 days for a North American trip; 83% want seven days or more for an international one (IRF, 2024)
- 35% of meeting planners say attendees now expect more personalized interactions (Amex GBT via Luxury Travel Advisor, 2026)
- 34% plan to use AI to give onsite staff insights for personalizing service, the top planned AI use for 2027 (Amex GBT via Luxury Travel Advisor, 2026)
- 80% of US incentive buyers use or plan to use AI for destination research and planning, up from 58% in 2025 (Northstar, 2026)
- $243 average per-instance on-site gift spend in North America, up from $170 (IRF, 2025)
What President’s Club winners want
Winners want time, comfort and someone to share it with, and travel still beats cash.
- 91% of sales employees rate a group trip to an appealing destination very or extremely motivating, for the third year running (IRF, 2024)
- 61% rate individual travel extremely motivating, the highest of nine reward types; group travel is second at 50%, ahead of cash and gift cards (SITE and Maritz, 2026)
- 84.5% say relaxation time is extremely or somewhat important (IRF, 2024)
- 80% find luxury accommodations and experiences appealing, up from 72% in 2023 (IRF, 2024)
- 53% rank bringing a guest among their top three motivators, up 6 points (IRF, 2024)
- 13% of Gen Z respondents dislike group travel or traveling with colleagues, against 6% of Gen Y and 7% of Gen X (SITE and Maritz, 2026)
- Fewer than 10% of today’s qualifiers work in sales; 60% work in operations or technology (SITE and Maritz, 2026)
Incentive travel ROI, retention and qualification
Winners stay, and the companies that get the most from incentives spend more per trip rather than sending more people.
- 89% of recent winners say they are more likely to stay with their employer; 89% feel stronger loyalty and 93% are eager to win again (SITE and Maritz, 2026)
- 97% of top-performing companies call reward programs a powerful retention tool, against 88% of comparators (IRF, 2025)
- Nearly $3,000 more per salesperson is spent on top sales trips by top-performing companies than by comparators (IRF, 2026)
- $8,600+ top-tier sales trip value at top-performing companies, against about $6,700 at comparators; their average sales trip is nearly $4,000 (IRF, 2025)
- 16.1% of sales reps earn incentive travel at top performers, almost the same as comparators’ 15.5% (IRF, 2025)
- 38% of top performers’ sales programs require above-quota performance to earn the trip (IRF, 2025)
- 55% of senior leaders see incentive travel as essential to company success, not a perk (MPI, 2025)
President’s Club tax and gross-up figures
A trip is taxable income to the winner, so a $6,000 trip costs about $9,200 once you gross it up.
| Federal rule (2026) | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Tax-free achievement award cap, qualified plan | $1,600 a year | IRS Pub. 15-B, 2026 |
| Tax-free achievement award cap, non-qualified | $400 a year | IRS Pub. 15-B, 2026 |
| Are vacations covered by that exclusion? | No | IRS Pub. 15-B, 2026 |
| Optional flat federal withholding on supplemental wages | 22% (37% above $1 million) | IRS Pub. 15, 2026 |
| Social Security plus Medicare, employee share | 7.65% | IRS Pub. 15, 2026 |
On the North American average of $6,000, 22% federal withholding plus 7.65% FICA is 29.65%. To leave the winner whole, the taxable amount becomes $6,000 ÷ (1 − 0.2965) = $8,529, a gross-up of about $2,529. Add the employer’s own 7.65% on that amount (about $652) and the trip costs about $9,181, before state income tax. Details: our President’s Club tax guide.
Bonus: sales kickoff statistics
The sales kickoff is back in the room, and it is judged on pipeline.
- 62% of companies planned a fully in-person sales kickoff for 2025 (SalesHood, 2025)
- 74% name growing pipeline as a top SKO goal, ahead of improving win rates (60%) (SalesHood, 2025)
- 92% of SKOs include sales teams; only 8% invite all employees (SalesHood, 2025)
For budgets, see how much a sales kickoff costs.
Turn these benchmarks into your own number with the incentive trip budget calculator, shortlist destinations with the destination finder, or see how our incentive travel company runs a President’s Club.
Methodology and sources
We use only figures published May 2024 to October 2026, each linked to the page we checked on October 20, 2026. Where a primary report is gated (the 2026 Incentive Travel Index, the Amex GBT forecast), we cite the trade publication that reported it.
Studies cited: the 2025 and 2026 Incentive Travel Index (IRF and SITE), IRF 2026 Trends Report, IRF 2025 Top Performers Study, IRF 2024 Attendee Preferences, IRF Industry Outlook for 2026, SITE and Maritz’s 2026 generational study, Amex GBT’s 2027 Global Meetings and Events Forecast, IRS Publications 15 and 15-B (2026) and SalesHood’s 2025 SKO report. Survey bases differ, so don’t compare percentages across studies. Dollar figures are market benchmarks, not J.Shay pricing. Next refresh: October 2027.
J.Shay Event Solutions. “President’s Club and Incentive Travel Statistics (2027).” Last updated October 2026. https://jshay.events/incentive-travel-statistics/
Frequently asked questions
What is the average cost per person of an incentive trip? About $5,100 per person worldwide and $6,000 in North America, according to the 2025 Incentive Travel Index. The 2026 Index reports per-person spend up about 8%. Airfare, gifting and any tax gross-up can push a President’s Club trip well above these benchmarks.
How much do top-performing companies spend on incentive trips? In the IRF’s 2025 Top Performers study, top performers’ average sales trip was worth nearly $4,000 and their top-tier trips exceeded $8,600, against about $6,700 at comparator companies.
Does incentive travel improve retention? In SITE and Maritz’s 2026 study, 89% of recent winners said they were more likely to stay with their employer, 89% felt stronger loyalty and 93% were eager to win again.
Is a President’s Club trip taxable? Usually, yes. IRS Publication 15-B excludes vacations from the tax-free employee achievement award rules, so the trip’s value is normally taxable wages. Employers may withhold federal income tax at a flat 22% on supplemental wages, and many gross up the trip so winners don’t pay out of pocket.
What are the biggest incentive travel trends for 2027? Air access and new destinations. In the 2026 Incentive Travel Index, the share of planners naming airlift a top challenge jumped from 12% to 40%, and 80% of US buyers use or plan to use AI for destination research. In the 2025 Index, nearly 70% of buyers were seeking destinations they had never used.
