The open field is divided into eight groups of colour and activity. In one corner a team of 10 competitors in yellow caps races wheelbarrows full of hay against the clock. The green-caps team has broken into pairs, each embracing wildly in an attempt to free themselves of the lengths of twine which join them at the wrists. Meanwhile, over the fence, the blues whoop triumphantly as another of their horseshoes hits the mark, leaving the red team behind by a significant margin. Cries of encouragement - as well as a good helping of abuse directed at the competition - ring out around the field.

Despite the evidence of their antics, these are not childen. In fact, they are executives on company business, taking part in corporate entertainment with a difference. This leaping around and boisterousness is what is known in the tourist industry as incentive travel.

The players are German salespeople who have been brought to Ireland by their employer, at no small cost, as a reward for reaching their sales targets the previous year. The afternoon in the Irish countryside is one element of a carefully chosen programme combining fun and competition, fine food and beverage, sightseeing and Irish culture - all in the name of an incentive to still greater efforts.

Richard Phelan of tour operator Outdoor Dynamics explains: "A lot of companies are big into team-work and so we use a whole range of team-building tasks. With Americans we do a programme of Celtic Challenges such as an puc fada and the turf-stacking and they always go down well. Various nationalities react differently. We find that the Germans, for instance, are very disciplined and easy to handle whereas the French have more of a mind of their own."

Christophe De Patoul of International Conference Management, who deals with European groups arriving in Dublin, defines an incentive trip as a marketing tactic. "The main thing is that an incentive has a corporate image attached to it and more and more it is used as a corporate marketing tool. It can be used by a company to say thank you to employees, or to show off a new product to clients, and also to motivate employees to reach targets for the following year."

And it doesn't come cheap. "Traditionally, incentive groups use top hotels because the idea is that they are being spoiled and having an experience they would not otherwise have," says Susan Cody, sales manager for Glenlo Abbey Hotel, Galway.

Finding something new for such typically sophisticated clients is not always easy. One travel agent describes bringing groups up the side of a mountain, giving them a fishing rod and telling them to catch supper. "They were not to know that we had loaded the river with trout and that chefs, waiters and a barbecue awaited around the corner!"

Typically, participants travel by coach and the group is accompanied by a guide who acts as a cultural intermediary during their stay.

This is not a new concept - in rich economies it has long been a popular way of introducing corporate executives and promoting interaction between related interests. Such business is newer here, but the success of companies such as Outdoor Dynamics, whose incentive business alone accounted for 2,500 people in 1996, reflects Ireland's increasing popularity as an incentive destination.

Bord Failte's statistics do not distinguish between regular incoming tour groups and incentive travellers, but a report by a British company, Gordon Simmons, estimated in 1996 that incentive travel is worth £35 million to the economy. This may seem small in the context of Bord Failte's overall tourist spend figure of £1.45 billion, but it is very lucrative business. Unofficially, it is estimated that the spending for each individual in an incentive group is up to four times that of an ordinary tourist.

So it is not surprising that venues and service-providers alike specifically court incentive business: "Incentive groups are the sort of business that every product supplier wants to attract because of their unlimited budgets and because it is mostly off-season," Susan Cody remarks.

Crucially, the main months for incentive travel are May, June, September and October. Across the board, the US is a major source of incentive business. Liz Morgan of Euroguides of Cork attributes the bulk of her company's business to the US and Germany, while Eileen Goold of the Shelbourne Hotel identifies the US and UK as its main incentive travel market. "We spend a lot of time creating the right atmosphere for these programmes," she says.

Encouraged by availability of a the direct Finnair flight to Dublin, tour operators such as Wallace Travel are also investing in the developing Scandinavian market as well as the US.

Recognition of this investment and return was highlighted by the presence of the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Jim McDaid at the Incentive Travel and Meeting Executive Exhibition in Chicago earlier this month, where major US buyers meet Irish tour operators and invite them to design incentive proposals.

Jim O'Callaghan, a conference officer with Bord Failte, attributes Ireland's growing reputation as a playground for members of an exclusive corporate world to the excellent "tourist product". This - the range and quality of the hotels, restaurants and diversions on offer - has improved significantly, not least thanks to investment from the European Development Fund.

Another factor he mentions is the amount of imagination and creativity the Irish tour operators put into the proposals they present to buyers. "What makes an incentive successful is creativity in coming up with an original programme, common sense in its execution and great attention to detail," says Kevin Shannon, of Kevin Shannon Tours, which brought 65 incentive groups to Ireland in 1996.

"Firstly, we try to interpret what the client wants to achieve. We ask the incentive house basic questions: Are these people all male? Are there spouses in the group? The age group? and so on. It is important for us to get a good profile so that we can put forward a programme that really interests them."

The knack of combining an interesting trip with faultless logistics is vital. John Colclough of Country House Tours describes co-ordinating a recent incentive for Reuters. Reuters's policy, which allows no more than two staff members to fly on the same flight, called for a novel approach.

Upon arrival, groups of four were given a self-drive car equipped with a cassette containing clues to guide them to their destination and the three-day incentive became a treasure trail.

Go West, a marketing company which promotes Galway as an incentive destination, is directly involved in planning programmes, and working closely with tour operators in planning innovative and enticing trips. Originality is the key, says Go West's Kerry O'Sullivan. "People who come on incentives have been everywhere. And what they want is something that cannot be bought on the street. For example, we offer the Aran Ceili banquet of traditional entertainment on Inis Mor. Turf cutting in Connemara is another."

So, how are we winning-over the sophisticated and experienced world traveller? An afternoon in the bog.