Egypt will host a timeshare seminar later this year
TTG Middle East & North Africa
July, 2000
Interval is planning to hold an information exchange seminar in Cairo later this year, in a bid to to provide local
resort operations personnel with an in-depth review of the company's operations procedures and membership programmes.
Plans for the seminar are part of the company's ongoing efforts to add new products and services to the region
and educate the market on the benefits of timesharing. Interval's regional office, which serves its Middle East
clients, opened in Cairo in February 1998. Another office, based in France, services its Tunisian and Moroccan
clients.
The company currently has 18 properties in Egypt, one in Lebanon, six in Tunisia and five in Morocco. "We
continue to affiliate with new resorts in a variety of Middle Eastern countries and are impressed with the quality
of new resorts opening in the area, in particular in the Sharm El Sheikh region," said marketing communications
assistant, Interval International, Sarah Scott. Approximately 20 per cent of the company's members from Europe,
the Middle East and Africa have purchased timeshare in the Middle East.
Timeshare is the fastest-growing segment of the international hospitality industry, and new resorts are opening
in destinations around the world, offering more choice and flexibility than ever, Scott added. While the traditional
programmes offer owners the use of either a fixed unit or unit type for a specific week during the year, vacation
clubs and point-based programmes now provide an even greater degree of flexibility.
Vacation clubs allow members to stay at resorts within a resort group, under a variety of different plans. The
accommodation can vary, and members may have access to other benefits, including travel services, golf packages
and hotel discounts.
In point-based programmes, owners purchase points that give them either membership or a deeded right to access
specific types of accommodation, resort locations, amenities, number of days' use, and other travel services. The
main benefit of point-based programmes is that they provide owners with the flexibility to design their own vacations,
Scott said.
Interval plans to take full advantage of growing interest in timeshare in the region. "In May 2000, we published
our first Arabic directory, which has been distributed to all members," Scott revealed. "Interval decided
to produce this version of the resorts directory due to the rapidly expanding numbers of Arabic-speaking members."
Visit TTG Middle East and North Africa online at http://www.ttgme.com.cy