In an attempt to spread the word about exciting and unique incentive travel opportunities, Incentive Solutions travel planners have working alongside our extensive network of hotel partners, destination management companies (DMCs) and local tourism boards to bring you the monthly Emerging Incentive Travel Destination series. We kicked the series off with an article about Cuba in January. This month, we’re bringing you details about a land that’s a little wilder: Africa.
Africa certainly may not be what comes to mind when many think of travel incentives, group travel, or corporate events and meetings. But that’s exactly what makes it thrilling and buzzworthy. When someone tells you he or she just got back from a sales incentive trip to Hawaii, you immediately imagine beach-facing meeting rooms and colleagues having poolside mimosas together. But a corporate travel or incentive trip to Africa? That’s bound to raise some eyebrows and inspire questions.
Here are just a few things your business associates or salespeople would say to others about their incentive travel experience in Africa:
“Going on a safari together was a great team building experience.”
Business conferences and group travel events typically feature exploration and activity time that allows attendees to sample the nightlife, visit local bars, stroll the shopping centers and break off to various other tourist traps. On an African group travel trip, attendees can instead have a truly unconventional, memorable team building and bonding experience.
Fellow travelers will never forget going on an open-vehicle safari together and watching a pride of lions hunt on the plains. Private game reserves such as the Shamwari in the Eastern Cape are home to lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and buffalos, animals that many would never otherwise see in their lifetime except in zoos. Everyone involved will have stories, pictures and social media posts to share during the trip and long after. With woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, forests, mountain ranges, rivers, and marshes, Africa provides an incomparable selection of natural wonders and rare, beautiful animals.
With incentive group travel deals, like those offered by Incentive Solutions, attendees can experience closeness to nature through open-air hotels and lodges on the Serengeti, without sacrificing the safety and security of creature comforts. African accommodations include hotel spas with gymnasiums, jacuzzis, indoor pools, and saunas as well as places like the elegant, colonial-style Long Lee Manor with gardens, ponds, terraces and verandas that overlook wildlife on the plains.
“Even during our downtime between incentive events and meetings, we were surrounded by beauty.”
Group travel activities in Africa aren’t just for the rugged. For those who would rather appreciate the country’s beauty from a distance—or relax after a long excursion on the savanna, there are peaceful, isolated locations like the Maputaland Beach Adventure offer the chance to play beach volleyball, go snorkeling, or just relax while reading, listening to the surf, and enjoying the gorgeous, cloudless African weather. Attendees can also relax in places like Westin Lion Sands’ outdoor swimming pool, right beside a watering hole where elephants come to drink.
On an African incentive trip, attendees can choose how immersed they want to be in nature while resting assured that everywhere they look, they see something wonderful and wild that they certainly can’t see at home.
“Our incentive tourism in the African winelands actually helped local conservation efforts.”
Tours of lush African Winelands include not only exploration of grape farms and tastings of local wine, but chances to help the local ecosystem and population. Ecotourism in The Cape’s Winelands has greatly aided conservation groups’ efforts to minimize natural habitat loss and develop more sustainable wine production. Incentive travel attendees can contribute to these efforts when they enjoy biking, hiking and driving tours of game reserves.
For a predictable, typical incentive travel or corporate event, there will always be plenty of go-to, standard destinations like glittering metropolises and island getaways. But few places can offer the out-of-the-ordinary beauty and majesty of Africa. In many cases, the purpose of travel incentives is to refresh attendees and inspire new ideas. Nothing can jolt your travel participants out of their routines quite like a safari or a hike through mountainous African Winelands. A journey to the heart of earth’s natural wonders is sure to motivate sales teams and cultivate closer bonds with business partners.
For more information on booking an incentive trip or corporate event in Africa, call us at 866-567-7432 or reach us through our 24/7 contact form.
Associate Account Manager at Incentive Solutions
Direct Line: 678-514-0213
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