Excellence in Incentive Travel: Africa/Middle East
Walthers Destination Business Solutions, was honored with a 2016 SITE Crystal Award for “Excellence in Incentive Travel: Africa/Middle East”at the Crystal Awards Recognition Ceremony held 6 November during the SITE Global Conference in Panama City, Panama.
“The Crystal Award is the most prestigious form of recognition in the global incentive travel industry,” said Rajeev Kohli, SITE President. “It not only recognizes the outstanding organizations that win them, but also showcases the innovative ways planners can create extraordinary motivational experiences to maximize human potential and achieve tangible business results for their companies.”
Cementos Moctezuma, a Mexican producer of cement and concrete products for the construction industry, conducts an annual incentive program for its internal staff and distributors. Africa was selected as the preferred destination – a continent that few Mexicans have visited. While the global trends are for shortened programs and staying closer to home, the program demonstrated that an exceptional incentive travel experience – even a 9-night program to a destination more than 24 hours away – can motivate spectacular results.
Working closely with Walthers DBS, the company selected a nine-night program covering three regions and four countries: South Africa, Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Participants spent four nights at Cape Town’s Table Bay Hotel, followed by two nights on safari at 13 lodges located in three South African regions. The trip concluded with a three- night stay in Zambia at The Royal Livingstone Hotel overlooking The Victoria Falls, during which participants also visited Botswana and Zimbabwe.
“Pushing boundaries makes for a great incentive. Having an open-minded client, who was willing to consider some creative ideas, resulted in a truly special program. We sincerely thank Cementos Moctezuma for placing their trust in our team and for the creative freedom to design a 10-day program that allowed the 300 qualifiers to fully appreciate our region,” stated Daryl Keywood, managing director, Walthers DBS. “The complicated logistics of this program were no mean feat, and we are particularly proud of the entire Walthers team who managed to pull off a really memorable event.”
Cementos Moctezuma believes that the incentive program to Africa was a major factor in the motivating both the staff’s and distribution partners’ performance.With primary objectives to drive sales growth and market share, the company achieved record results: a 36.6% increase in earnings. The return was phenomenal considering that the construction industry GDP growth for the same period was only 2.6%.
About the SITE Crystal Awards Recognition Program
The annual SITE Crystal Awards Recognition Program provides industry acclaim for world-class organizations that excel in the design of unique, memorable group travel experiences that deliver measurable benefits for their clients. Today, the awards serve as a benchmark for incentive travel programs and are regarded as the highest honour in the motivational events and incentive travel industry. Incentive programs held between 1 May 2015 and 1 May 2016 were eligible, and an independent panel of judges evaluated entries, with only 6 winners internationally.
