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Vacation Ownership Association of Southern Africa welcomes new dawn in legislation, products, financing and services
Date: 08/11/2010Article source: VOASA
The Vacation Ownership Association of Southern Africa (VOASA) operates as the regulatory body for the shared vacation ownership industry in Southern Africa, which includes timeshare, fractional ownership and private residence clubs. VOASA assists consumers as well as trade professionals and organisations with all aspects of the vacation ownership market.
The body recently held its 2010 conference at the Southern Sun Elangeni Hotel in Durban, with over 200 delegates from South Africa, the UK, USA and Zambia in attendance.Says Deon Viljoen, Chairman of VOASA and Operations Director for Southern Sun Lifestyle Resorts:
“This was the best ever conference for the vacation ownership industry in South Africa – with the largest attendance and the most speakers, both local and international. The vacation ownership industry in South Africa is in good shape, is well represented, and is gearing up for a new dawn. There is a whole host of new things happening.
In terms of legislation, there is the upcoming Consumer Protection Act, which will help us set new benchmarks and standards in the industry, as well as the new Companies Act which is going to have an impact in the next year or so. The new King III Report gives guidance on the roles and responsibilities of the Directors of Boards. All of this will help us to clean up bad practices and have a really professional industry.”
Henry Greyling, CEO of Seeff Fractional Ownership International and speaker at the conference, says that fractional ownership still offers a great return on investment.
“During the last 2 years we did 116 ‘re-sales of existing shares’ at an average year-on year growth of 22.4%. I don’t think many real estate industries in the world can boast this rate of return. Only 4 of these 116 resales were sold at less than 15% year-on-year growth – this during a recession – which provides huge credibility for the fractional industry and the sustainability thereof as a superior property and leisure investment.”
Greyling says that the only weakness in the industry at present is the lack of end-user finance.
Viljoen has a positive outlook here too: “There is no structured, institutionalised financing for the products at yet, which are currently mostly self-financed. There has been discussion around this issue, and I am quite confident that in the next few years in South Africa we will be able to offer finance and a process for accessing finance for a variety of vacational ownership products.”
Viljoen describes the extent of the shared vacation ownership industry in South Africa: “We boast a mature R2bn shared vacation ownership industry comprising more than 200 resorts and 260 000 shared vacation owners, with an 85% occupancy rate of 500 000 shared vacation ownership weeks.
Purchasing a shared vacation product is a chance to lock into a lifestyle for many years to come at today’s prices and you make a commitment to take that well deserved break. You also only pay for what you need. Family and friends can take advantage of your purchase, and the product is very flexible. You can even leave a legacy of wonderful vacations to your children and your children’s children.
“Once you become a shared vacation owner the vacation choices are endless. The inherent flexibility of the vacation ownership concept is offered through many alternatives in unit, size, location, time of year, and the opportunity to exchange to other resorts.
“There are a number of new resort developments and extensions to existing resorts in the planning stages in South Africa. The exchange ability of weeks has really blossomed – with different organizations, including Interval International, RCI and others, offering these services in South Africa, which has opened up the market and created a more competitive environment, which promotes service and is really good for the consumer, resulting in innovative products for them.
“Next year’s VOASA Conference is set to take place in Durban from 29 to 31 of May. Those who should attend includes financial institutions, developers, sales and marketing companies, managing agents, resort managers, hospitality service companies, industry players and all those interested in entering the industry.”
Contact VOASA on 021 914 9693; email voasa@voasa.co.za; see www.voasaconference.co.za or www.voasa.co.za
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