Victoria-Falls hosts incentive travel excellence summit

DELEGATES have started arriving in Victoria Falls for the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) meeting to be attended by 25 international board members starting on Wednesday.

SITE is a professional and prestigious association of incentive travel consultants dedicated exclusively to the global incentive travel industry.

Its executive leadership team are C-Suite executives from leading businesses in the field of incentive travel, across Zimbabwe’s source markets and beyond, and are thought leaders and key decision-makers pioneering the growth of the US$$75 billion incentive travel industry.

Zimbabwe’s hosting of the SITE Executive Summit presents opportunity for the country to position itself as a strong emerging destination for incentive travel, and rubberstamps the country’s Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (Mice) agenda.

Zimbabwe Tourism Authority head of corporate affairs, Mr Godfrey Koti, said delegates had started arriving this morning. The meeting will take place between Wednesday and Friday.

“People have started arriving and the main proceedings will take place on Wednesday. This is their (SITE) board meeting but we are fortunate to host it as a country, which only means that we are now being taken serious as a MICE destination,” said Mr Koti.

He said the SITE executives will have their congress on the sidelines of the main proceedings. By hosting the event, Zimbabwe provides incentive planners with an opportunity to ratify ongoing search for new destinations that offer truly unique, authentic and creative experiences.

Incentive travel uses once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences as the ultimate reward or prize for extraordinary performance in a business setting. According to recent research, incentive travel budgets are expected to rise by 34 percent in 2023, with a gradual return to mid/long-haul destinations.

Mr Koti said this is an endorsement of destination Zimbabwe.

“We are privileged to be hosting this group of very serious organisers of the travel sector. It means another endorsement for us to host these big MICE conferences and the hard work we have been putting as the world is responding to our call as the destination of choice,” added Mr Koti.

ZTA chief executive officer, Ms Winnie Muchanyuka, will be hosting the executives. SITE CEO Annette Gregg said her organization was looking forward to working with Zimbabwe.

“SITE is committed to working with new and emerging destinations and helping position and refine their offerings for discerning incentive travel qualifiers. With its unique natural setting, world heritage sites, and incentive-ready resorts, hotels, and lodges, Zimbabwe has so much to offer. SITE looks forward to working with the local incentive travel community to delivering award-winning incentive travel programmes in Southern Africa,” said Greg.

-@ncubeleon