The Holiday Ownership industry’s regulatory body, ATHOC has reported the findings of its latest research project that shows robust growth, and encouraging trends that show Australians are embracing the concept of holiday ownership, along with all its benefits. ATHOC (Australian Timeshare Holiday Ownership Council) commissioned AEC Group Limited to conduct the research, comparing 2005 results with 2009, and they found some impressive stats to report after surveying across the 78 participating properties…
The Holiday Ownership industry’s regulatory body, ATHOC has reported the findings of its latest research project that shows robust growth, and encouraging trends that show Australians are embracing the concept of holiday ownership, along with all its benefits.
ATHOC (Australian Timeshare Holiday Ownership Council) commissioned AEC Group Limited to conduct the research, comparing 2005 results with 2009, and they found some impressive stats to report after surveying across the 78 participating properties.
Despite the effects of the GFC on the tourism industry in general, sales of holiday ownerships were up 55% to $205.4 million – with indirect economic benefit in Australia estimated to be more than a billion dollars across the board in 2009. The three major players Accor Vacation Club, Classic Holidays and Wyndham Vacations Resorts Asia Pacific – all battled tough economic conditions – but emerged stronger albeit, leaner in some cases.
There are now over 152,000 owner families in Australia, up 20% on 2005. Despite the introduction of the “Do Not Call” legislation, companies have adopted new sales and marketing strategies to reach potential buyers, and are slowly shrugging off a negative perception about its products and marketing techniques.
Their inventory is not sitting idle either, with occupancies maintaining an average of 86% during the 2009 year, flying in the face of distressed inventory and dramatic rate drop trends being reported in the hospitality industry.
And owners are not always staying close to home; they are taking advantage of Exchange Companies which can offer overseas destinations and the ever popular cruising holiday options. 91% of all owners utilized the largest four; Dial An Exchange, Interval International, ICE Asia Pacific and RCI.
When they holiday, owner families spend an average of $2,027 per travel party, per trip, up from $916 in 2005. Perhaps recession proofed in the cost of their accommodation, their discretionary spending can be redirected to food and beverage and tourist attractions?
It’s not only these owners who are contributing vital dollars to local economies whilst they holiday. The companies in holiday ownership contributed a whopping $87 million plus in maintenance activities and wages in 2009.
This figure has no doubt bolstered struggling building companies (with renovations) and SME’s nationally (maintenance and soft furnishing, painting, room inventory upgrades) as they continued with their obligatory and scheduled programs, legally bound to maintain quality of accommodation for their Members.
$120.8 million in wages were paid to approximately 1762 full time employees nationally in 2009, supporting regional and hard hit tourist areas such as far north QLD, rural Victoria and NSW and the tourist hot spots such as Margaret River and Gold Coast.
88% of owners took a holiday or short break utilizing their ownership points with or without families in the 2008/09 period, trending against Tourism Australia’s “No Leave No Life” statistics. As points and weeks generally have a three year window of “use them or lose them”, holiday ownership members usually use them, or let families access them, continuing travel habits, as is evidenced, even through the toughest economic climate.
The CEO’s of the top three companies commented on the results and the austere measures they have had to implement to maintain their competitiveness
Accor Vacation Club CEO, Craig Wood said that the global downturn provided a key opportunity to maximise profitability. "John F Kennedy once noted that when written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity" he said.
"At the start of the crisis it was necessary to restructure our business. A combination of a high quality product, world-class service and a fantastic and engaged work-force allowed us not just to weather the initial impact of the crisis but produce a significant increase in profitability due to the austerity measures we implemented during the last year. Two of our key performance indicators, member satisfaction and resort occupancy increased during this year demonstrating the resilience of our business, even in the toughest of economic times" he said.
Classic Group CEO, Ramy Filo said the research was an indication of the resilience of the industry and was supported by their consumer confidence and significant growth in incremental sales in their Classic Holiday Club. With over 45,000 members under management Classic has seen demand higher than previous years with Gold Coast properties operating at over 95% and regional resorts at 80% occupancy. Our product provides a great fit with the traditional accommodation industry thereby adding stimulus to their business and expands delivery options to our members.
Wyndham Vacation Resorts’ CEO & Managing Director, Barry Robinson, said that the economic downturn provided an opportunity to really showcase the benefit of vacation ownership. “Wyndham’s vacation ownership resorts enjoyed average occupancies above 80% for the 2009 year, with many Owners commenting that their ownership provided them with a holiday they would not otherwise have been able to take during that time”, he said.
“Having to streamline our operations in the early stages of the GFC has made us focus on becoming more efficient and innovative. Since that time we have experienced a significant increase in our profit margins”, he said.
Accor Vacation Club has over 28,500 members in its Australian and Asian Clubs across the Asia Pacific region. “There is no way we could afford to have the standard of holidays nor the duration as we do now with our Accor Vacation Club Membership. With Accor Vacation Club, we know that every year we have a guaranteed top class holiday.” says Charlotte Frajman, Accor Vacation Club proud member since July 2009.
Wyndham Vacation Resorts has more than 43,000 vacation owners in its WorldMark South Pacific Club by Wyndham. “Life before the Club was one-star camping trips or staying with friends and family on their living room floors!” says Cheryl Devenish of Brisbane, who has been an Owner with WorldMark South Pacific Club by Wyndham for 10 years.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
