Who’s buying Brazil timeshare and Venezuela timeshare right now? Brazilians and Venezuelans! Both countries recorded double-digit growth in the sale of timeshare and vacation ownership products last year, almost exclusively within the domestic market.

A recent Hotels Magazine online article cited the RCI Executive Summary noting that domestic timeshare buyers made 97 percent of Brazil timeshare sales last year for a total of over 14,300 weeks. Venezuelans purchased 99 percent of the Venezuela timeshares (a total of 12,700 weeks) sold in that country.

Perhaps responding to this trend, sixty-one Latin America timeshare resorts and Caribbean timeshare resorts became part of RCI timeshare exchange system in 2009. These additions brought the total number of Latin America timeshares affiliated with RCI timeshare exchange to 1,200.

The RCI Executive Summary also showed promising growth in Costa Rica, where several luxury projects have been started and in Argentina, Colombian, Uruguay, and Brazil where timeshare companies that may not have had a presence there previously are entering the market. Even Mexico, a vacation destination hit hard by fears of the S1N1 virus, added 22 resorts to the RCI affiliation inventory. Sixteen Caribbean timeshares and seven Brazil timeshares also became part of the RCI timeshare exchange.

RCI timeshare exchange publishes the RCI Executive Summary annually. A targeted 2010 Latin America and the Caribbean Vacation Ownership Fact Book will be released later this year.