Insights on how incentive planners can make their travel incentives more enticing to Gen Z qualifiers.
A landmark new study from Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and Maritz takes the most in-depth dive yet on how all the generations currently in the work force, from Boomers and Gen X to Millennials and Gen Z, think about and respond to incentive travel and reward strategies. The results, outlined in a recent webinar, offers a detailed generational portrait that is equally reassuring and challenging for those who want to attract, and delight, all generations of incentive participants.
Conducted in early 2026, the research surveyed 960 employees across Boomer, Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z cohorts, all of whom had participated in employer-sponsored incentive or recognition programs offering travel within the past three years. The sample skews toward operations and technology roles (60%), with less than 10% from traditional sales functions — a deliberate effort to understand how incentive travel is performing across the broader workforce, not just the channel-sales audiences it was originally designed for.
The topline finding is that travel — whether individual or group — is the single most motivating incentive reward across every generation, consistently outperforming cash, gift cards, merchandise and all other reward types. Sixty-one percent of respondents rate individual travel “extremely motivating,” the highest score available. Group travel follows close behind at 50%. And the best part is that the study also found an equally compelling business case for incentive travel: 89% of trip winners report being more likely to stay in their jobs afterward, 89% feel stronger loyalty to the sponsoring company, and 93% are eager to win again.
But when you look at the generational breakdown, you start to see a more nuanced story — one with significant implications for how programs are designed, communicated and delivered to a workforce that now spans four generations with meaningfully different motivational profiles.
Gen Z: Engaged, But On Different Terms
Gen Z employees — those born between 1997 and 2012 — are the youngest cohort in the study, and in several respects, the most challenging to reach through traditional incentive program design. They are consistently less likely to say they’re extremely motivated than older generations across nearly every reward category. The gap is most pronounced for individual travel (54% of Gen Z rate it “extremely motivating” vs. 63% for Gen X and Boomers) and for private recognition (31% vs. 40%). They are also more likely to actively dislike the group travel format (13%, compared to 6–7% for older generations) and more likely to cite work-life balance concerns as a barrier to participation (29%, the highest of any generation).
None of this means Gen Z is indifferent to incentive travel. Individual travel remains their top motivator — it simply doesn’t land with the same intensity it does for their older colleagues. And when Gen Z employees do win a trip and attend, their satisfaction scores, while measurably lower than other generations, are still strongly positive. The study explicitly finds that the experience works for Gen Z. What doesn’t work is assuming they immediately get the value of incentive travel. The emotional connection between winning and feeling genuinely recognized needs to be built deliberately — it doesn’t happen automatically for this cohort.
A Different Frame, Not a Different Generation
Perhaps the most important insight in the study is the distinction between apathy and a different frame — and the researchers are careful to make this clear. When asked what a group travel experience means to them emotionally, Gen Z respondents are significantly less likely than older generations to describe it as “a feeling of achievement” (44% vs. 58–59% for Millennials, Gen X and Boomers) and significantly more likely to describe it as “a sense of pressure or obligation” (21% vs. just 10% for older cohorts). At the same time, Gen Z over-indexes on viewing incentive travel as a “once-in-a-lifetime experience” (25% vs. ~20% for other generations). They’re drawn to novelty and experiential value — they just don’t connect it as instinctively to personal achievement or professional recognition.
While the results don’t indicate that planners need to replace the language, framing and program design that have worked for decades with Boomer and Gen X audiences. However, they may want to consider supplementing them with approaches that speak to Gen Z’s motivational reality.
What Gen Z Wants in a Destination
Gen Z’s destination preferences offer another set of surprises. Counterintuitively, they show a higher preference for domestic U.S. destinations (48%) than older generations (41–43%), likely reflecting early career stage, cost-of-living pressures, or simply less prior travel experience making U.S. destinations feel more novel. But when they do want to go international, their first-choice destination is striking: Africa tops the list for 32% of Gen Z respondents, compared to just 12–15% of older generations. This generation is hungry for less-visited, authentic and unexpected destinations.
On trip themes, Gen Z is much more interested in city and urban immersion experiences (13% first choice vs. 6% for older generations) and is the least interested in cruises (4% vs. 10% for Gen X and Boomers). Adventure and action themes appeal consistently across all generations (20–23%), making them a reliable cross-generational anchor.
Designing Incentives for Gen Z
The study results indicate several design imperatives that will appeal to all generations, and for Gen Z in particular.
Address the group format directly. Gen Z’s reluctance around group travel is real, but it’s not insurmountable. Communicate the experiential and social upside of the group format explicitly — and build in design elements like free time, guest flexibility and moderate group sizes (11–50) — to help reduce the perceived cost of participation.
Make guest flexibility non-negotiable. Guest inclusion with winner flexibility is the single strongest predictor of how valued, special and loyal winners feel across every generation. Restricting guests or prescribing who they can bring measurably reduces impact. This is especially critical for Gen Z, who weigh personal and social trade-offs more heavily.
Build recognition moments into the trip itself. The connection between winning and feeling valued doesn’t communicate itself for Gen Z. On-trip recognition moments, personalization and visible leadership engagement can help close the gap between their experience and the deeper emotional impact the trip delivers for older cohorts.
Lead with novelty. First-time destinations consistently drive higher scores on feeling valued and motivation to win again. Gen Z’s desire for less-visited, unexpected destinations is particularly pronounced — Africa, city immersion and adventure-forward itineraries are the sweet spot.
Reframe the achievement narrative. Since Gen Z connects less with traditional achievement framing, communication strategies should lead with the experiential, adventurous and “once-in-a-lifetime” dimensions of winning — while still building structured recognition into the program to reinforce the achievement story in ways that land.
Expand your audience. Sixty percent of the incentive travel qualifiers in this study work in operations or technology — not sales. Gen Z is heavily represented in these roles. Programs that limit eligibility to traditional sales audiences are leaving this generation out of the equation almost entirely, and leaving significant motivational ROI on the table.
While it may be tempting to think of Gen Z as a problem to be solved, instead approach this youngest cohort as a generation with a distinct motivational profile that existing program design hasn’t fully caught up to. The travel reward still works. The business case is still there. But the planners who will earn Gen Z’s engagement — and ultimately their loyalty — are those who meet them where they are: Designing for novelty and experience, reducing the friction of the group format, and building recognition that doesn’t assume the value communicates itself.
You May Also Be Interested In…
SITE Survey Shows Destination Recalibration Ahead
