Western Cape, South Africa

The Western Cape is famous in South Africa for its incredible scenery and laid-back lifestyle, it's mountains and beaches. The province's tourism industry has rapidly grown over the past few years. With Cape Town, Garden Route and the Winelands as its top destinations for visitors from all over the world.

Cape Town - the 'capital' of the Western Cape, is best known for its landmark Table Mountain, which forms a striking backdrop to the city bowl. As a tourist spot, Cape Town is idyllic with beaches that are frequented not only by the rich & famous, tourists but by bronzed locals as well. Apart from its natural beauty, Cape Town also has cultural attractions including the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Robben Island, the Cape Winelands and tours through Khayelitsha.

The Westerns Cape's value as a vacation ownership and investment destination has long been acknowledged. Areas outside of Cape Town that enjoy the same kind of attention include the Cape West Coast. This coastal region is known for its numerous small fishing villages like Langebaan, Shelley Point, and Blouberg. A typical day in the Western Cape could include, breakfast on table Mountain, lunch at a Game farm, and sundowners at one of the many world renowned wine farms.

Hermanus to the east of Cape Town is best known best as South Africa's prime whale watching destination, and Gansbaai a little further down the coast for shark cage diving. It could be said that the Western Cape is a province of leisure, which would explain the amount of golfing estates, wine farms, game farms and quaint little towns situated on the scenic garden route, all just waiting for you to explore.

Q&A with Dirk Wilson

When did you launch your company

[DW} We began trading in 2005

What motivated you to enter the vacation ownership industry

[DW] At the time we envisaged that fractional ownership would boom in South Africa, primarily due to the fact that throughout the year most South Africans like to holiday within this magnificent and diverse country. The concept of fractional was beginning to show accelerated growth in the US market – we matched the trends with consumers here and believed that South Africans - as well as international consumers would like to co-own luxury holiday homes in Africa for literally a fraction of the cost of whole ownership, not to mention removing the hassles of whole ownership.

Was this the case

[DW} Yes – very much so. In early 2006 the concept was embraced very quickly, subsequently the industry literally 'took off' overnight.

What role did your website play in the growth of the fractional market

[DW} In the early stages we were all marketing fractionals to financial and real estate consumers – this was implemented through various media channels frequented by these targeted consumer groups. As our Website began making a name for itself we integrated our content with the leading financial & real estate websites, this was in order to create more awareness of the concept of fractional ownership and showcase some of the fantastic products to purchase.

Did your website act as a sales referral system

[DW} Very much so – over 2006 and 2007 our website - and partner sites were generating substantial sales leads for our clients

How did the recent recession effect your clients - and the industry in general

[DW] Well – The recession effected all sectors of the global economy, the luxury and real estate sectors were particularly hard hit, this had a negative impact on lead generation across the board. Consumers all around the world were tightening their belts and cutting back on aspirational purchases, however interestingly enough – there was an influx of buyers that were considering whole ownership of holiday homes – these consumers were now curious about what fractional could offer them and their family in terms of lifestyle and financial benefits.

Why did you launch holidayhomesportal.com

[DW] In line with trends within the global vacation ownership industry – we wanted to provide our trade and consumer visitors with information and products pertaining to all aspects of shared vacation ownership. I believe that as an independent source of information and access to products, we can assist the industry and consumers by providing education and awareness for all types of vacation ownership. We aim to stimulate vacation ownership sales, re-sale’s, exchanges and rentals for our clients.

Your company has recently won awards for your contribution to the industry, what were these awards

[DW] At the recent VOASA conference, we were awarded the ‘Service Excellence’ award – this was fantastic to be awarded by a body that represents ‘all’ aspects of shared vacation ownership. The most achievement was winning the ‘Commended’ award in best fractional service category at the OPP live awards in London. Once again to be recognised and nominated for a global award within our industry was great and demonstrates that we have a truly global footprint and that the internet has no boundaries!