Incentive programmes offer the perfect opportunity to give back and leave a positive impact on the local community and destination. Meaningful incentive experiences that incorporate CSR activities are expected to be increasingly popular once incentive travel picks up again post pandemic.

So we asked our inVOYAGE community of luxury travel partners to share the CSR experiences they can offer groups. From wildlife conservation and engaging with local communities to baking and farming initiatives, here are 7 of the best…

Participate in a unique hands-on rhino conservation experience

Rhino populations in Africa are dwindling as continued poaching, as well as habitat loss, is putting their survival under extremely serious threat. Rhino notching is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity aimed at assisting conservationists with their efforts by cataloguing and monitoring individual rhinos.

With Green Route Africa, groups can witness the darting of a rhino and assist the veterinary team in tagging the sleeping rhino’s ear for research and security monitoring, before releasing it back into the wild.

Ear notches enable researchers to correctly identify different individuals on the Reserve. Each rhino is given a unique ear notch number, and microchips are placed in the horn and body for identification and security purposes. Measurements, horn shavings and skin samples are also taken for DNA analysis.

An evening in the Brazilian rainforest

The only hotel located within the national park of Iguassu in Brazil, Hotel das Cataratas, A Belmond Hotel, Iguassu Falls, offers a group incentive activity within the jungle to meet and engage with local communities. 

The group is taken to a small clearing in Brazil’s sub-tropical rainforest at Iguassu Falls in the evening. There, members of the Tupi-Guarani, one of the last remaining native Indian communities, are awaiting the guests around an open fire. An interpreter will facilitate the dialogues between these two groups while traditional drinks and delicacies are enjoyed.

The Tupi-Guarani share information about their ancient language, culture and legends. Music and traditional dance will punctuate the evening. Funds raised from the visit go towards projects that include building a new well, improving waste disposal and enhancing their school.

Restoration of an iconic Maltese vintage bus

In 2011, the much-loved colourful vintage buses of Malta were replaced by a modern public transportation fleet. Mainly of British manufacture, each bus was truly unique with many models dating back to the 1950’s. Today many of the buses have been restored and have become popular for exclusive transfers and visits of the island.

As part of a CSR activity, EC Meetings Malta can organise for groups to restore a traditional Maltese bus. The activity takes place at a former stone quarry, known as Limestone Heritage with a large space available to paint and re-decorate the interior and exterior of the bus.

Accompanied by a team of restoration professionals, the activity is well prepared in advance and offered to teams of up to 50 people. Post event the client can choose to either sell the bus and donate the money to a charity of choice, or donate the bus directly to a local museum, where the story of the Maltese bus will live on for future generations to enjoy.

Volunteer to work on a Turkish farm

Get back to nature and back to basics with ODS Turkey in the Turkish countryside volunteering at a number of working farms across the country.

Learn more about the food system and its effects on local communities, the ecosystem, what ends up on your kitchen table and how it gets there. You might spend the day learning how to care for the farm animals, planting seeds, getting involved in the seasonal harvest or producing local cheese.

Then feast on the organic produce over a farm breakfast or lunch with the locals. Experts can fill you in further on the food culture of the area, or renowned local chefs and cooks can teach you how to prepare a communal from your day's harvest.

Bee sustainable in the Scottish countryside

For almost 30 years, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has been committed to proactively protecting its local environments. Fairmont’s Bee Sustainable programme features more than 20 honeybee apiaries and more than 20 wild pollinator bee hotels at Fairmont locations worldwide.

The first luxury hotel brand to develop comprehensive on-site bee programming and now considered a leader in this space. At Fairmont St Andrews, small groups can enjoy a private talk with one of the property’s three Beekeepers onsite.

Guests are given the opportunity to learn about the Bees, their habitat and explore their hives, with Bee suits provided.

Breaking bread in Italy

A typical Sicilian street food, scacce modicane is a thin focaccia bread stuffed with lots of deliciousness - choose from cheese, tomatoes and onions, sausage or aubergine - folded into a portable pocket and cooked in a wood-fired oven.

Mutika DMC can organise for your group to learn to make this typical Sicilian street food while also supporting a worthwhile initiative. Done in conjunction with the Don Puglisi Foundation of Modica who help single mothers and their children, you'll learn to make scacce with the local women who will share their traditional techniques.

The bread is then sold within the local community to raise funds to support these women and their children, giving them a source of income, independence and a sense of pride.

Community farming in Cape Town

Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, Cape Town has an extensive CSR programme, which includes offering a number of activities that are suitable for incentive groups.

Up to 30 guests are offered the opportunity to help weed and prepare the soil for farmers who are part of the PEDI Agrihub farm in Phillipi. In a market that is dominated by large scale commercial farmer, Pedi Agrihub provides a facility that brings urban and small-scale farmers to a central space to trade.

Emerging and newly trained urban farmers have been assisted by PEDI td to create a Cape Wild Food selling platform, while Mount Nelson's Chef Rudi Liebenberg has committed to trying some of their organic fresh produce for the hotel kitchens.