|
About RCI (http://www.rci.com)
Resort Condominiums International (RCI) is a global provider of leisure travel services to businesses and consumers, with market leadership positions in vacation property exchange, rental and resort management. As a growth partner to its business clients, RCI leverages core competencies in networks, technology, brand and product development and world-class customer service to deliver superior vacation experiences for travellers anywhere in the world.
To understand RCl's leadership in the vacation exchange industry, let's look at the facts:
- RCI invented vacation exchange, introducing the concept in 1974.
- Seven of every 10 timeshare resorts worldwide are affiliated with RCI.
- Eight of every 10 vacation exchanges are fulfilled through RCI.
- Seven of the top 10 timeshare developers (in sales) of the world have chosen RCI as their exchange partner.
- RCI has twice the number of members, more than twice the number of resort affiliates, and more than twice the number of exchanges of any other company.
- With more than 800 Gold Crown resorts worldwide, RCI has more than twice the number of premium-quality resorts of any other exchange company.
RCI's marketplace for leisure currently has over 3,700 affiliated resorts located in 94 countries and 3 million members living in more than 200 countries. In year 2002, RCI booked closed to 2.5 million exchanges worldwide, sending an estimated 7.5 million people on holiday. Since its inception, RCI has arranged exchange vacations for more than 54 million people worldwide. Among RCI's prestigious resort developer customers are Hilton Grand Vacation Club, Shell Vacation Club, Club Intrawest, Trendwest, Fairfield Resorts and Sun City Vacation Club.
RCI operates the world's largest vacation exchange network, RCI Weeks; as well as the world's only global points-based exchange network, RCI Points. The Holiday Network (www.holidaynetwork.com) offers consumers the world's largest and most diverse selection of holiday rental properties, and operates rental programmes on behalf of resorts around the world. RCI offers property owners at private residence clubs access to a portfolio of fine leisure assets through The Global Registry (www.globalregistryonline.com), bringing flexibility and added value to the luxury segment of the vacation ownership industry.
RCI’s Hotel Dynamics (www.hotel-dynamics.com) is the specialist in the design, evaluation, implementation and management of customised guest-based marketing programmes for the hospitality industry. Ragatz Associates (www.ragatzassociates.com) is an international consulting and market research firm to the resort industry. The firm has conducted nearly 2,000 studies for resort developments in 46 states and 56 countries.
RCI is a subsidiary of Cendant Corporation (NYSE: CD) @ www.cendant.com, a global provider of services primarily in hospitality, travel distribution, vehicle, real estate and financial.
Mr. Chong Kok Hong.
Business Development Manager, RCI Asia-Pacific.
RCI Asia-Pacific - Singapore
Address: 8 Cross Street, #09-01/05 PWC Building, Singapore 048424
Tel: (65) 6226 2800
Fax: (65) 6226 2300
E-mail: Chong.Kok.Hong@rciap.com
resorts@rciap.com
Member Servicing
Toll-Free Hotline for Thailand-residing members: 001 800 656 060
E-mail: asiamembers@rciap.com
Website: www.rci-asia.com
www.rcicommunity.com
RCI and Timesharing - A Winning Combination
The timeshare industry is booming. With annual global sales estimated at US$7.8 billion and growth between 16 percent and 18 percent a year for the past seven years, timesharing is the fastest-growing segment of the global travel and tourism industry. It is now being embraced by dozens of high-profile, premium-quality hotel brands and hospitality entities.
"The timeshare industry is one of the tourism industry's fastest-growing sectors, increasing at an annual rate of almost 20 per cent - well above the rate of international tourism arrivals - since 1980."
- The Financial Times, U.K.
"The growth of the timeshare industry has been nothing short of remarkable over the past 15 to 20 years."
- Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.'s "Leisure Almanac"
"China is a huge potential market for timesharing as people's income increase and the demand for a beneficial leisure product arises."
- Xinhua News Agency, China
Benefits of Timeshare to Thailand
Boosts Inbound Tourism
RCI has actively promoted Thailand as an attractive tourist destination to our worldwide base of more than 3 million members through our global member magazine, "Endless Vacation" and worldwide call centres. The more exchanges RCI confirms into Thailand, the more room revenue is generated. Therefore the more resorts and hotels are affiliated to RCI's worldwide network, the more foreign tourists are exchanged into Thailand.
Increases Hotel Occupancy
Timesharing increases occupancy levels in hotels and resorts through domestic and inbound tourists. It helps to generate repeat guests especially those with higher spending power and boost food & beverage consumption within hotel premises. A large part of RCI members actually go on to extend their timeshare holiday in another non-timeshare property and this generates spending on F&B as well as other goods and services within Thailand.
Creates Employment
With the influx of tourists and hotel guests, the hotel and hospitality and its peripheral industries will employ even more staff to service this booming market.
RCI is optimistic that timesharing will continue to play an important role in Thailand's high-growing travel and hospitality industry and eventually, the overall economy.
Case Study
Although there is no statistics available yet on the benefits of timeshare to the Thailand economy, research conducted for countries like Mexico, Caribbean and the United States have more than amply demonstrated the benefits of timesharing to a country's economy.
We can take a look at Mexico's example. According to a 1998 study conducted by RCI Consulting on the Resort Timeshare industry in Mexico, it was found that timesharing has been one of the fastest-growing vacation and real estate industries in the country since its introduction in the early 1970s.
The following statistics shows how timesharing contributed significantly to Mexico's economy:
- In 1997, the year-round occupancy rate in built timeshare projects was about 76.5 percent, compared to about 56.5 percent in the hotel industry.
- The average timeshare-vacationing party spends 9.4 nights while on their timeshare vacation, including occupancy of their timeshare unit and other forms of overnight accommodation. The average visitor party size is 3.8 persons. These figures mean that the timeshare industry generates almost 27 million visitor days in Mexico annually.
- Total direct consumer expenditures of all timeshare vacationers in Mexico are more than US$1.4 billion. Almost another US$400 million is spent on travel expenditures annually.
- When including indirect expenditures created by the multiplier effect, marketing and sales expenditures, employee taxes and other costs, it is estimated that the timeshare industry generates over US$7.2 billion annually for the country's economy.
- The timeshare industry is responsible for creating (directly and indirectly) about 94,000 jobs and about US$900 million of payroll. It is felt that these estimates are very conservative.
- The resort timeshare industry generates more than US$7 billion annually in consumer expenditures, taxes and other revenue streams, as well as creates approximately 100,000 jobs.
|
|
