Hot Destinations for Incentive travel

This guide is the movement piece — what’s rising in the incentive destination conversation right now, and what’s slowing down. Both matter when you’re planning a 2027 or 2028 winner program. The hot list of destinations themselves (organized by region) lives at our incentive travel and meetings hot list; this piece is the analytical companion — direction of travel rather than static rankings.

The data behind these calls is the latest IRF/SITE Incentive Travel Index (the joint annual research from the Incentive Research Foundation and SITE Foundation), Cvent’s group business demand reporting, and what we see in our own client booking pipeline across U.S.-based incentive programs.

Rising — Where the Money Is Moving Toward

Portugal (Lisbon, Algarve, Porto). Has flagged in the top-rising tier of the IRF/SITE Index for three consecutive reports. Per-attendee program costs run 20–25% below Spain or Italy for equivalent property quality, and U.S. direct-routing has expanded substantially since 2022. The Algarve coast, in particular, has added genuine luxury inventory over the past 5 years (Tivoli Carvoeiro, Vila Vita Parc) that wasn’t there before.

Mexico City (urban incentive). Skift Meetings has tracked the steady recovery of CDMX as a viable corporate incentive destination since 2023. The combination of Four Seasons Hotel Mexico City, St. Regis Mexico City, and the newer Pug Seal boutique properties gives you a real urban incentive option that wasn’t bookable five years ago. Best for groups under 100 whose audience profile is urban-curious rather than resort-coded.

Tokyo and Kyoto. Per the latest SITE Index, Asia has overtaken multiple traditional destinations in the “next destination considered” preference data. Tokyo specifically — with the property bench of Aman Tokyo, The Tokyo EDITION Toranomon, and the older Mandarin Oriental Tokyo — is now booking 18–24 months out for prime cherry-blossom dates. Kyoto’s Aman Kyoto and Park Hyatt Kyoto are the rising small-group alternatives.

Iceland. The “different” incentive destination that has compounded in interest each year. Best for groups that have already done two or three traditional programs. The Retreat at Blue Lagoon remains the anchor, with the volcanic activity in the Reykjanes peninsula in 2024–2025 creating real planning-side constraints worth tracking via the Icelandic Met Office before committing dates.

Croatia (Dubrovnik, Hvar, Split). The value-tier Mediterranean play. Per-attendee program costs land 20–30% below comparable Amalfi or French Riviera programs. The catch: limited U.S. direct routing means most groups route through Frankfurt, Munich, or Istanbul.

Punta Mita, Mexico. Has rated consistently high on our client post-trip surveys for the past three years. The adjacency of Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita and St. Regis Punta Mita Resort on the same gated peninsula remains the cleanest 150+ buyout configuration in Mexico, and the property bench keeps strengthening.

Slowing or Over-Exposed — Where to Be Selective

Cabo San Lucas (town itself, vs the corridor and resort areas). Cabo town has gotten busy and tourist-coded in a way that’s hurt the rated wow factor on incentive programs. The corridor and the Pedregal side of the Bay remain strong (Waldorf Astoria Pedregal, Las Ventanas, Esperanza) — but stay out of the actual downtown for the program’s social programming. This is one of the more common destination-selection mistakes we still see in incentive planning.

Bahamas / Atlantis Paradise Island. The property quality has not kept pace with the price point over the past 5 years. Top performers notice. Caribbean budget is better spent in Turks & Caicos or Anguilla at the high end, or in Punta Cana at the value end. Atlantis remains a defensible call for family-inclusive multi-generational programs (covered in our group travel piece), but as a pure top-performer incentive destination, the math no longer works as cleanly as it did in 2018.

Cancún (the city, vs Riviera Maya). Riviera Maya remains rising (Rosewood Mayakoba, Andaz Mayakoba). Cancún downtown for incentive use is in slow decline — overbuilt, increasingly mass-market, and the per-attendee cost math no longer differentiates it from genuine luxury alternatives.

Hawaii — Still Rated Highly But Cost Math Increasingly Difficult. Hawaii continues to land at or near the top of post-trip survey scores. The challenge isn’t desirability — it’s per-attendee program cost, which has continued to climb past $8K for the Big Island Four Seasons Hualalai default. For programs of 150+ attendees where the per-attendee number is a budget-board scrutiny issue, Hawaii is increasingly being routed to the smaller top-tier program (50–80 attendees) while the larger programs go to Mexico or Europe.

What This Means for 2027 Sourcing

Three planning implications worth knowing:

1. Rising destinations book deeper. The properties in the rising tier (Portugal, Tokyo, Iceland, Punta Mita) are now booking 18–24 months out for prime weeks. If your 2027 program isn’t in active sourcing by mid-2026, the top property tier in the rising destinations may already be gone.

2. Cost differentials are wider than they used to be. Per the latest IRF/SITE data, the per-attendee spread between the rising-tier value destinations (Portugal, Croatia, Punta Mita) and the established-tier defaults (Hawaii, Lake Como, Aspen) has widened to 30–40%. For budget-constrained programs, the rising tier delivers more program for the same spend.

3. Repeat audiences are the bigger driver. If your top performers have done Cabo and Hawaii twice each, the rising destinations aren’t just lower-cost — they’re the only call that preserves the “earn this trip” motivation. Top-performer survey data we collect consistently shows the third trip to the same destination delivers less retained motivation than a first trip to a new destination.

If you want help building an incentive destination shortlist that accounts for your audience’s repeat history and your 2027 budget reality, our incentive travel team can help.

Related reading: 2027 President’s Club destination guide — the full domestic + international shortlist for next year’s program.

Related reading: European destinations for President’s Club — for the European programs covered in depth.

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