Escape to the Islands!

The calendar says spring is just 15 days away, but I don’t think Mother Nature has received that memo. It is another cold night in Philadelphia, and so it’s the perfect time for some warming eye candy!

Who doesn’t love to look at gorgeous, postcard-perfect topical destinations, especially on a chilly winter night. But it’s not all pure fun here … we justify our visual indulgence as research.

Yes, research.

While most of the programs we plan are traditional meetings and conferences, we do occasionally work with clients planning incentive programs. Incentive events are a tool that companies use to impact and influence behavior to achieve a desired result.  In our world, travel incentive programs are typically a reward for outstanding sales results.  And, beautiful, warm-weather destinations are great choices for hosting an incentive event.

Conference and Incentive Travel magazine kicked off a new series on incentive programs yesterday (check out ”Is Incentive Travel Back in Vogue?”) and we are excited to follow this series throughout the month.  Incentive events have not been the most popular types of events since 2009, but recent studies are indicating that incentive travel will be increasing in the coming months.

We’ll get back to business later, but for now, back to the eye candy.  Check out Travel + Leisure’s best islands of 2013 and Conde Nast Travel’s top 25 islands in the world.  The dozens of tempting island photos are the perfect way to warm up tonight!

Image courtesy of cmpt