David Bottrill, MD of DBMT, has said he categorically disagrees with the view of former chairman David Baker that mainstream incentive travel is ineffective in improving company performance.

The comments were made by Baker in a news story published on meetpie.com last week. Bottrill said that Baker’s views were not reflective of his or the agency’s and that Baker had not been involved with the company since 2007.

“I completely disagree 100 per cent with his comments and I actually think it’s very hypocritical of him, considering that was the basis of his business and the revenue he has made from the industry,” he said.

He added: “Whilst we agree you have to have a very structured focus around such programmes, incentive travel is still considered to be the number one motivator for uplifting performance.

“The key to incentive travel is making sure the programme and structuring of any incentive that uses travel as a reward is fair and balanced and achieves the objectives of the client. They key to all of this is measurement; measuring performance and ensuring the basis on which the targeting is made is sound.”

Pictured: David Bottrill, DBMT