Hospitality and Related Services - Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies - page 134

over 75 nations. With of ces in 14 countries, Interval services approximately 2 million members. Visit
www.intervalworld.com . RCI and II charge a yearly membership fee and a fee for finding an exchange.
Owners can also exchange their weeks or points through independent exchange companies. Also,
owners may arrange a direct exchange. Several bulletin boards have been created to help timeshare
owners meet others and swap. Timex is such a site; visit www.timex.to .

Industry Overview

The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) is the preeminent source of information about
timesharing and vacation ownership. It conducts regular research studies on owners, economic impact,
financial performance, and state of the industry through the ARDA International Foundation (AIF),
which is the research arm of ARDA. Visit its Web site at www.arda.org .
ARDA s last worldwide report stated there are 5,425 resorts worldwide located in 95 countries.

Figure 6.3 shows locations of timeshare resorts. North America has the most with 31 percent led by
the United States, Europe hosts 25 percent led by Spain, Latin America, has 16 percent led by Mexico;
and Asia has 14 percent led by Japan. Africa with 6 percent, the Caribbean with 5 percent, and the
Paci c with 3 percent round out the locations.
For the United States ARDA reports there were 1,548 timeshare resorts in the United States in
2009, representing approximately 170,200 units for an average resort size of 110 units. Of these,
6 percent were studio units, 23 percent were one-bedrooms, 66 percent were two-bedrooms, and
6 percent had three bedrooms or more. There were 7.2 million intervals owned. Occupancy was strong
at 79.7 percent. Florida, California, and South Carolina remain as the three states that have the most
resorts, representing 39 percent of all U.S. timeshare resorts. The predominant resort category was a
beach destination, reported by 31 percent of responding resorts. This was followed by country/lakes
resorts (18 percent), and golf and ski resorts each at 10 percent.
Year 2009 sales volume totaled $6.3 billion, a sharp decrease of 35 percent from 2008 because of
the economy and the lack of funding available from banks for consumer loans. The industry is currently
recovering from the great recession. Although sales volume declined, the average cost per timeshare
interval increased to $20,468, a modest 2 percent increase over 2008. For the first time in the
industry

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s history, points-based products outsold traditional weeks. In 2009, timeshare resort
occupancy remained strong at 79.7 percent, compared to the 54.7 percent hotel industry occupancy
reported by Smith Travel Research.

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The Pro le of a Timeshare Owner

The average age of a timeshare owner is 48. Average household income is $94,933, 75 percent are
married and 9 percent have a domestic partner. Baby boomers are the largest generation of timeshare

Caribbean
5%

Pacific
3%

Africa
6% North America

31%

Asia
14%

Latin America
16%

Figure 6.3 Locations of timeshare resorts.

Source:ARDA.

Europe
25%