Study reveals timeshare vacation attributes - Timeshare: human resources - Brief Article

Hotel & Motel Management, Dec 8, 2003

Orlando -- Interval International, a vacation-exchange company, released "Future Timeshare Buyers: 2003 Market Profile," a study of timeshare vacation attributes. The study shows that 15 percent of U.S. pleasure travelers, or about 12.5 million adults, familiar with the concept of timesharing are interested in purchasing some form of vacation ownership during the next two years.

Pleasure travelers aged 37 years or younger, especially those between the ages of 24 and 37, also express statistically significant degrees of future purchase interest.

Almost half (47 percent) report making travel bookings online, most frequently when making hotel (77 percent) or air (74 percent) reservations.

When asked about specific regions within the United States they are interested in visiting, 80 percent cited the West.

Florida was the most popular state at 50 percent, followed by California (39 percent) and New York (22 percent).

Prospective timeshare purchasers also report significantly greater interest in visiting the Hawaiian Islands (more than 80 percent) and the Florida Keys (78 percent) than their noninterested counterparts.

The study was prepared from information collected for the Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell/Yankelovich Partners 2003 National Leisure Travel Monitor.

Demographic profile of the typical prospective timeshare buyer:

* Female--53%

* White--76%

* Married--53%

* Aged 38 or older--52%

* Annual household income greater than $50,000--59%

* Graduated college or attained post-graduate degree--38%

* White-collar occupation--70%

Source: Interval International

hmm@advanstar.com