The Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE)’s flagship event in Puerto Rico raised $276,000 for the SITE Foundation and launched a new Impact Report revealing the people, careers and research supported by Foundation investment.
SITE Classic 2026 concluded 26 August at El Conquistador Resort in Puerto Rico, having brought together more than 270 senior incentive travel leaders for four days under the theme ‘From Many Shores to One Rhythm’, and raising the huge sum for the Foundation at live and silent auctions.
Buyers, suppliers and C-suite leaders gathered for an event that combined high-impact education and peer-led dialogue with immersive destination discovery.
During the event, SITE Foundation also unveiled its second annual Impact Report, making a direct connection between the funds raised at SITE Classic and the people, programmes and knowledge they support.
“Puerto Rico gave us a powerful setting for SITE Classic: culturally rich, welcoming and full of energy,” said Hasan Dinc, president, SITE.
During the event, Mexico’s Riviera Maya was announced as the host for 2027 from 30 August to 2 September.
Among the headline measures set out in the new SITE report:
- More than $10m invested in incentive travel professionals and the industry since 1987
- More than 130 projects and initiatives funded, with over 20,000 people directly or indirectly impacted since 2016
- Nine SITE Global Conference Scholarships offered in 2026, each worth up to $6,000
- More than 40 SITE chapters supported through grants and fundraising activity.
The numbers are accompanied by personal accounts from scholarship recipients, emerging professionals, educators, chapter leaders and members who received support during periods of hardship.
“This report makes the connection between fundraising and impact visible. A donation becomes a scholarship, a research project, help for a chapter or a lifeline for a member; behind each of those is a person whose confidence, career or contribution to our industry grows as a result. The $276,000 raised at this year’s SITE Classic is therefore not an end result. It is an investment in people, and those people strengthen our industry and shape its future,” said Jonathan Richards, president, SITE Foundation.
The Impact Report also shows how Foundation investment underpins professional development and the evidence base for incentive travel.
The Report is available at https://siteglobal.com/impact-report.
