Fully 14 percent of active leisure travelers in America are now interested in purchasing timeshare according to the Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell/Yankelovich Partners 2006 National Leisure Travel MONITOR.ÊThis represents a four-point increase over the percentage recorded in 2005, and translates into a potential market of 9.2 million households on a national basis.Ê
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“The measurable rise in purchase interest appears to be attributable to three principal factors,” said Peter C. Yesawich, chairman and chief executive officer of Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell.Ê “First, the sustained recovery of the leisure travel industry; second, the remarkable increase in consumers’ familiarity with the concepts of both timesharing and vacation ownership; and third, the expanding appeal of the core timesharing product across consumers of all income, socio-economic, and ethnic categories.”
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The National Leisure Travel Monitor is co-authored by Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell and Yankelovich Partners, and is exclusively sponsored within the vacation ownership sector by Interval International.Ê Widely-regarded as one of the most accurate barometers of the future travel intentions of Americans, the results are calculated from a nationally-representative sample of 1,650 active adult leisure travelers.Ê The survey is now in its 15th year.
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Other highlights include:
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?ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Familiarity with the concepts of timesharing and vacation ownership continued to grow:Ê for “timesharing” from 68 percent of active leisure travelers in 2000 to 86 percent in 2006; for “vacation ownership” from 39 percent of active leisure travelers in 2000 to 59 percent in 2006;
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?ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ The most significant increase in awareness of timesharing was observed within the diversity markets (African-American, Hispanic and Asian), from 68 percent in 2005 to 77 percent in 2006;
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?ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ More than one out of every four active leisure travelers familiar with the concepts of timesharing or vacation ownership expressed interest in attending a timeshare sales presentation or in accepting an offer for a two to three-day mini-vacation package.
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“The high level of purchase interest cited in this study validates the growth opportunities for the resort timesharing industry,” said Craig M. Nash, chairman and chief executive officer of Interval International.Ê “More than one in four leisure travelers want to learn more about vacation ownership and nearly 50 percent of those are interested in purchasing. This is extremely exciting news for resort developers and marketers, because there are resort products that meet the needs of most consumers.”
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