Is China the Next Hot Destination for Timeshare Development?

Could China be the next hot spot that timeshare developers target? It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see there is enormous business interest in China, and that China is obviously trying very hard to redefine its place in the world market.

For the moment, forget about China’s problems with quality control in exported goods. When you look at the big picture, you can’t ignore the fact that China’s foreign exchange reserves, (those are liquid assets held in reserve by a central bank for a country’s use in the international market) are some of, if not the world’s largest. Whether China’s possibly excessive exchange reserves have been established as a way to potentially manipulate the exchange rate, or this is simply an effort by the Chinese to create a type of insurance against an economic crisis, the result has been to attract even more foreign trade dollars to China and increase the globalization of China’s market.

And among the many types of business eyeing the 1.3 billion Chinese as a vast, almost untapped market, are big names in the hotel and leisure industry. Read Bill Marriott’s blog and you will see that he has just returned from China. Marriott Hotels and Resorts designated their new JW Marriott at China Central Place as their 3,000th hotel.

Marriott plans to have 11 hotels in Beijing in time for the 2008 Olympics and some 50 in all, throughout China within only a few years. Last month, Marriott also announced they were expanding their Quan Spas in China and Asia, opening 12 new spas within the next 2 years. This schedule calls for 6 spas in China, 2 in Indonesia, and 4 in India.

Jumeirah, a Dubai-based luxury hotelier, announced last week that it will debut its first flagship hotel in the Asia-Pacific region, with their Shanghai hotel, scheduled to open in August 2008. Starwood Hotels and Timeshare Resorts has already launched SPG Moments for Asia Pacific through its Starwood Preferred Guest program. Marriott, Jumeirah, Crowne Plaza, Hyatt and Langham, are only some of the big names making announcements about their China hotel and resort expansion. (China Hospitality News is a good resource if you want to learn even more about which resorts have China on their growth projections).

Clearly, with hotels and casinos under construction in China in record numbers, timeshare resorts won’t be far behind.

Here’s more evidence that China is near the top of many growth plans:

• • China has 300 million people who play basketball, and over a billion more potential basketball fans. The NBA can’t overlook numbers like this, which is why they have developed NBA China as a subsidiary company. China is already the NBA’s largest market outside the US. Three NBA pre-season games are scheduled in China within the next few days. The Cleveland Cavaliers play the Orlando Magic in Shanghai tonight. Tomorrow, the Orlando Magic will face a China all-star team in Macau and on Saturday, the Cleveland Cavaliers will play the Magic in Macau.
  But the NBA’s plans for China go beyond exhibition games, as they try to finalize their plans for expansion there. Timothy Chen, who resigned from Microsoft last month, will head up the NBA’s venture into China. The Harvard School of Business is using the NBA as a case study for how to build business in China.
• • In 1994, NIKE’s revenue in China was $8 million. Next year, NIKE projects business will reach $1 billion.
• • On October 12, the US Department of Transportation announced the award of a new direct route flight to China to United Airlines. The flight, between San Francisco and Guangzhou, marks the first US airline to offer daily, nonstop service between the US and China.

While Sell My Timeshare NOW doesn’t currently have timeshare resales and timeshare rentals available in China, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in our inventory soon. In the meantime, here are some other interesting timeshare destinations for the Asia Pacific area, and the Pacific Rim:

• Malaysia timeshare resale
• India timeshare resale
• Indonesia timeshare resale
• Thailand timeshare resale