Mid Sweden University

This thesis examines the perception of Generation Y employees on incentive travel. More precisely the perception of incentive travel as a motivational tool in comparison to other in-centives is assessed. The issue was chosen because both Generation Y and incentive travel are very current topics that are of great relevance to today’s business world. Generation Y will comprise around 50% of today’s workforce by 2020 and is consequently a generation of high interest.The theoretical principals of motivation and selected motivational concepts are discussed. Furthermore, travel as an employee reward is viewed in detail and also the specific character-istics of Generation Y employees and their attitude towards work is taken into account. In order to answer the research question of how Generation Y employees perceive incentive travel as a motivational tool in comparison to other incentives, several propositions were de-fined. Empirical data was collected through in-depth qualitative interviews. The data suggests that travel is perceived as special, superior, motivating and therefore has a “trophy value”, but is not perceived as generally more motivating than monetary rewards.