Perspective Magazine released an interesting study of the readership of Owners Perspective Magazine in the publication’s November edition. Their justifiable point is that Owners Perspective Magazine offers an effective venue for advertisers who want to get their message to timeshare buyers, timeshare owners, vacationers who consider buying timeshare in the future and even travelers who rent timeshare.

But in the process of making this point, the publication also offers all of the timeshare industry, as well as individuals who want to sell timeshare, a reliable profile of who is interested in buying timeshare or who may want to buy timeshare soon.

Profile of Timeshare Owners and Prospective Timeshare Buyers

The timeshare survey shows that the most popular countries for timeshares owned are:

• Europe timeshare (including UK timeshare) at 57 percent.
• US timeshare (which includes always-popular Hawaii timeshare) and Canada timeshare at 31 percent.
• Asia timeshare and Australia timeshare at 7 percent.
• Caribbean timeshare and Mexico timeshare at 3 percent.
• Middle East timeshare and Africa timeshare at 2 percent.

The average age of timeshare owners and owners of vacation property is between 56 and 62 but the average age of those who are interested in buying timeshare is between 42 and 48. They are 54 percent males and 46 percent females, and include 42 percent that are currently non-owners of timeshare but who want to buy timeshare in the future. Another 36 percent are current timeshare owners; 16 percent own fractionals; and 6 percent who are overseas property owners.

The Perspective Magazine article describes its readership as, “… more highly educated on average … technologically hip and like to compare prices. … they have an understanding of the pros and cons of vacation ownership and they’re aware of (timeshare) scams. They demonstrate an aversion to OPCs and scratch cards, they don’t trust telemarketers, and they are generally suspicious of sales techniques.”

Remember that these facts are not based on timeshare owners across the board but specifically on timeshare owners who also read Owners Perspective Magazine. However, one can’t help but assume that this look offers a reliable overview of timeshare ownership and timeshare interest.

And the takeaway? Don’t let the naysayers fool you. Timeshare owners are not frustrated and dissatisfied with their timeshares and vacation ownership; even in a declining economy, occupancy rates are around 80 percent and reported satisfaction rates even higher at 86 percent, according to a recent study from Smith Travel Research.

Neither are timeshare owners a group who were duped into making a purchase they did not understand. Timeshare and timeshare resales are a strong industry that has served millions and millions of timeshare buyers and timeshare renters well, and that continues to make improvements to all aspects of its products and services.

Here’s a link to some of the Frequently Asked Questions by timeshare buyers and those who are looking to buy timeshare in the future: http://www.sellmytimesharenow.com/timeshares/index/content/buyerfaq/

White Christmas? Snow and mistletoe? Well it all depends on where you are celebrating the holiday this year. Timeshare owners often target the seasonal holidays as some of their favorite weeks for enjoying timeshare vacations and the benefits of timeshare exchange.

Holiday in Your Australian Timeshare

Australian timeshare let you spend Christmas “Down Under”. While Australians enjoy many of the same traditions of European and US Christmas holidays, Australia is a global community with residents from around the world, giving an Australian timeshare holiday an international feel. Some Australians even suggest that Santa gets some special help in Australia from a grungy (but welcomed) fellow called the Swag Man.

Reportedly, Swag Man lives under the Uluru (a famous rock formation in Central Australia), appearing only around Christmas time to lend Santa a hand. In true Outback style, he takes to a four-wheel drive vechicle with his merry dingoes, delivering presents to all.

Your Quebec Timeshare for a Canada Timeshare Christmas

How about celebrating Christmas in Quebec in your Canada timeshare? In the French-speaking communities of Quebec, Christmas celebrations often include Christmas dinner called “Reveillon” which means “waking up”. This is an appropriate name, since the festive meal is typically served at two o’clock in morning after people return from Christmas Midnight Mass. When you plan to holiday in a Quebec timeshare, you are almost guaranteed a white Christmas.

Christmas Comes Early in Your Spain Timeshare

You can begin your Christmas celebration early in your Spain timeshare where the Christmas season officially begins on December 8 with the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Each year, in a ceremony called “los Seises” or the “dance of six,” ten elaborately costumed boys dance in a traditional performance that goes back to the 16th century.

The List of Timeshare Vacation Destinations Goes On and On

Over and over, timeshare owners report that the opportunities of timeshare exchange play an important role in their decision to buy timeshare. While you may be celebrating the holidays this year close to home, it is never too soon to start planning an Adventure Christmas for next year.

With timeshares, timeshare resales, and timeshare rentals available in exciting destinations around the world, your holidays next year could easily become your family’s memory makers of a lifetime.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at Sell My Timeshare NOW and The Timeshare Authority.

RCI Timeshare Exchange has announced the launch of the “RCI Going Green Award” for its affiliate resorts in the Pacific.

Focusing on timeshare resort operations, the RCI Green awards will include recognition at the Gold, Silver, and Bronze levels for the top three ‘green’ timeshare resorts.

Working in conjunction with Griffith University, RCI Timeshare Exchange’s Going Green Award will include a two-phase assessment. First, timeshare resorts will be asked to assess the green or environmentally conscious practices they have in place, supporting these efforts with documentation when possible. The second phase will be an on-site inspection. Timeshare resorts that scored well in the phase one self-assessment will be visited by an expert in sustainable tourism and evaluated on their ‘green’ efforts.

Griffith University’s Dr. David Weaver, a professor of Tourism Research, will be participating with RCI Timeshare Exchange in both phases of the evaluation and award assessment.

Dr. Weaver was quoted by Hotel Interactive as saying, “I am absolutely delighted to be working on this initiative with RCI. I expect an award program such as this will really raise awareness of and participation in environmentally-friendly best practices within the sector.”

RCI Timeshare Exchange, Recognizing the Efforts of Timeshare Resorts

RCI Timeshare Exchange plans to announce the winners of the first-ever Gold, Silver and Bronze RCI Going Green Awards at the Australian Timeshare and Holiday Ownership Council annual conference in Christchurch in September 2010.

RCI Timeshare Exchange is working to promote and encourage the sharing of environmental sustainability best practices and green ideas with its associates and affiliates through a Green Council, under the support of its parent company (Wyndham Worldwide and Wyndham Timeshare) which has launched the WyndhamGreen sustainability initiative.

Another reminder that timeshare sales and timeshare resales really are a global product comes with recent news that Australia timeshare, also called holiday ownership, is holding steady with strong occupancy rates. According to RCI, (Resort Condominiums International timeshare exchange) approximately 164,000 inbound international passengers conducted availability searches for Australia timeshare exchanges last year.

As Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO of Group RCI explains in a recent HotelsMag.com interview, “While tourism overall has seen a decline in these recent economic times, timeshare occupancy rates remain strong, with almost 95 percent occupancy at Gold Coast (Australia) timeshare resorts. This is compared to domestic hotel room occupancy levels around 74 percent. These figures demonstrate the value consumers find in owning timeshare and being part of a global timeshare exchange company like RCI, which gives them access to more than 4,500 affiliated resorts in top holiday destinations around the world.”

Strong Australia Timeshare Industry

This week marks the Australian Timeshare and Holiday Ownership Council (ATHOC) conference, with Geoff Ballotti delivering the keynote address. ATHOC general manager Laura Younger explains that despite the challenging global economy, Australia is experiencing a resurgence of holiday ownership. Timeshares are the second fastest growing tourism industry in the country, surpassed in Australia only by the rapidly growing cruise industry. Among favorite Australia timeshare destinations, the Gold Coast is a major regional hotspot. Younger says, “The economic significance of Gold Coast timeshare is a direct and indirect output of $318.3 million a year for the local economy.”

$318.3 million pumped back into an economy. These days, that is music to everyone’s ears even it is played on a didgeridoo.

So what types of Australia timeshare opportunities are available for you? Amazing ones. At SellMyTimeshareNOW.com you will find over 200 ads for Australia timeshare resales plus more for Australia timeshare rentals. These are holiday ownership properties you buy or rent on the secondary market, saving money for you while creating lasting vacation memories for your family.

The Travel Mole recently cited a Harris poll that said, for the eleventh year in a row, Americans list Australia as the number one place they would like to visit. Yet less than a half million Americans make it to Australia each year, and there has been ostensibly, no increase in American tourism to Australia since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Tourism officials in Australia feel confident that the problem lies with time and money. When you head south to Australia, you really head south. Air travel from Los Angeles to Sydney is, at best, a fourteen-hour flight. Then there’s the cost. By the time many people shell out the money for air tickets to Australia, there is not much left over for lodging and other expenses associated with vacationing.

So here’s the twofold plan that just may get you to the land of wallabies and koalas. First, Australia is a growing destination for timeshare development and offers fabulous opportunities in Australia timeshare resales and Australia timeshare rentals. And as the millions of satisfied timeshare owners will attest, buying timeshare lets you freeze the price of vacation accommodations for as long as you own your timeshare.

The Future of Australia Tourism

Tourism Australia (the governmental agency responsible for promoting Australian tourism) is working to entice Americans to the Land Down Under by educating US travel agents about the options and desirability in Australian vacations.

To help make air travel to Australia more affordable, Qantas airlines is offering the Aussie Air Pass, which starts at a little over one thousand dollars. Qantas is also working hard on a campaign designed to show Americans that air travel on Qantas is more comfortable than the standards most of us have come to accept from US budget airlines.

The Future of Australia Timeshare

In a statement issued in September 2005, Senator Grant Chapman, Chairman of Australia’s Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, said, “In my view the timeshare industry has the potential to continue to make a significant contribution to the tourism industry in Australia. Timeshare is a viable product, and there are many thousands of happy timeshare participants in Australia and overseas.”

Australia is committed to helping US vacationers enjoy everything from the Great Barrier Reef to the Coober Pedy; from the Sydney Opera House to the Golden Outback. I can’t think of a better way to start planning your Australian vacation than by looking at the opportunities available in by-owner timeshare resales and rentals at Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Partial List of Sell My Timeshare NOW Australia Timeshare and Vacation Resorts:

• Bright Resort
• Cedar Lake Country Club
• Holiday Club Pacific Australia
• Port Pacific Resort
• Sandy Point Beach
• Seashells Beachfront Resort 
• Surfers Royale
• Tamarind Sands
• Whitecliffs Beach Resort
• WVC Tinaroo Lake Resort