At the risk of sounding as if I am saying, “I told you so,” Welk Resort timeshare’s press release this week is one of the many good news timeshare stories that I keep writing about.

2009 has proven to be, for Welk Resorts timeshare, a year of record-high numbers. Jonathan Fredricks, Welk Resorts President explains, “Despite a rough economic year for many in the timeshare resort industry, we found that adhering to our core competency in providing an excellent product at affordable prices helped us achieve over $72 million in net revenue with strong sales efficiencies, beating our budget by over 15 percent.”

Welk Resorts timeshares has over 40,000 member-owner families that enjoy beautiful Welk California timeshare resorts located in San Diego and Palm Springs; Branson timeshares, and the company’s new Mexico timeshares in Cabo San Lucas, overlooking the Sea of Cortez.

Hotel Interactive online quotes Don Dubin, director of Welk Resort timeshare’s sales and marketing activities, as saying, “We believe our focus on remaining profitable in our sales and marketing departments, rather than developing a dependence on earnings from the finance side of the business, is a principle reason for our success.” Translation: Welk Resorts is a timeshare company that creates revenue by selling timeshare, not by depending on timeshare financing as its main stream of income.

I think the company’s founder and namesake, the late Lawrence Welk, would be proud of Welk Resorts timeshare’s sound business strategy, which is underpinned by the company’s reputation for providing honest, reliable service, delivered by well-trained employees, many of whom have worked for Welk Resorts for over 20 years.

There’s a lot going on in upcoming weeks at Sell My Timeshare NOW. Watch for our release of the newest HOT 100 List, showing the timeshare resales and timeshare rentals that received the greatest number of offers to buy or rent in 2009.

We’ll be publishing that list via a media release; our timeshare news blog, The Timeshare Authority; and as a downloadable PDF report you can pick up with the release, on the blog, or on our website www.sellmytimesharenow.com. The list is always exciting to see because it unveils where consumers are spending their money, and in so many ways that is the truest indicator of which timeshare resorts genuinely deserve to be called “HOT” properties.

Secondly, this is an important time industry-wide, as the annual ARDA Convention & Exposition kicks off in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hosted at the Venetian Resort and Casino, an amazing venue, this year’s event will attract timeshare industry leaders from around the world. Andy Sernovitz, past CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, will be the event’s keynote speaker. I’ll be part of a panel discussion called, “Website Concept and Marketing Revisited” and the entire event will be packed with opportunities for learning, exchange, networking, and building a better timeshare industry.

So stay tuned, be sure to check in here on The Timeshare Authority blog each day, and we’ll keep sharing with you all the timeshare news and information and everything you need to know to make better decisions about buying, renting or selling timeshare.

Here’s a sneak preview of The Rhythmics, that will be entertaining at the  ARDA Awards Program Wednesday, March 17, as part of the 2010 Gala.

C.A.R.E., which stands for the Cooperative Association of Resort Exchangers, is a timeshare trade association established over twenty years ago by timeshare industry representatives. Their goal was to better satisfy timeshare owners by increasing timeshare exchange inventories. Last fall, through the association’s annual fundraising auction, C.A.R.E. raised more than $13,000 for charity, an all-time record for their efforts.

Resort Trades, (a timeshare news and timeshare information publisher that targets the timeshare and resort industries) as a donor to the C.A.R.E fundraiser was selected to name a charity to receive five percent of the funds raised through the auction. Resort Trades selected the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital of Memphis, Tennessee, as the recipient.

“C.A.R.E. appreciates Resort Trades participation and knows we would not be able to be as successful without members like Resort Trades. C.A.R.E. is a non-profit organization, so the funds raised from the silent/live auction allow us to advertise C.A.R.E. in industry publications such as Developments magazine and Resort Trades,” says Jeannette Bunn, who is a Vice-President and volunteer at C.A.R.E.

The remainder of the funds raised at auction go to building membership at C.A.R.E. and expanding the C.A.R.E. members’ networking opportunities.

The US Travel Promotion Act, signed on Thursday, could have come just in time to turn the tide on shocking US losses in the tourism, travel, and timeshare industries.

According to research released by the US Travel Association, the decline of foreign travel to the US is hurting the economy far more than anyone could have predicted. Since the year 2000, the reduction in overseas travel to America has meant the loss of some 440,000 US jobs and over $500 billion in travel-related spending. Each individual visitor lost to US travel translates to a loss of more than $4000 that could be going directly into the US economy.

The $500 billion-plus lost in tourism dollars means a $214 billion loss in direct spending and another $295 billion loss in secondary spending. This includes retailers, restaurants, attractions, and other travel or tourism related goods and services.

And the lost jobs and lost revenues have a huge trickledown effect, resulting in an over $32 billion decline in tax revenue at local, state, and federal levels not to mention the resultant losses created when travel, timeshare, and tourism workers become unemployed. Presently, one in eight Americans depends on the tourism (or tourism-related) industry for employment.

Roger Dow, U.S. Travel’s president and CEO, explains, “We can’t afford another lost decade when we’re looking for ways to kick-start the economy and create jobs.”

A South African educator recently commented, “When America sneezes, the whole world gets ill.” The economic situation in the US has certainly felt like much more than a sneeze to most Americans with unemployment, foreclosures, and dwindling personal wealth still daily headline news. But when you look at the facts, the decline in US tourism is not solely tied to the current economy—this is a decade-long dip that incorporates the impact of 9-11, overall concerns about travel safety, and perhaps even the fact that we, as Americans, have not exactly been extending the welcome mat to worldwide visitors.

How the Travel Promotion Act Affects You

Until now, there has never been a government-backed promotion and communications program aimed at attracting international travelers to the US. On March 4, 2010, President Obama signed The Travel Promotion Act, in ceremonies at the White House. This effort will create a new public-private partnership campaign to aggressively market the US as a premier travel destination.

From this act, we will see the creation of the Corporation for Travel Promotion, a public-private corporation that will work with the State Department, Commerce, and Homeland Security to plan and execute comprehensive marketing, promotions, and communications campaign to draw more international tourists to the US.

And here’s the best news of all: no taxpayer money goes into the corporation. Instead, revenues for the new Corporation for Travel Promotion will come from private sector contributions (some $100 million) and a $10 fee on foreign travelers who do not pay for a visa in order to enter the US.

According to research by Oxford Economics, a $200 million marketing expenditure will attract 1.6 million new international visitors annually, add $4 billion to the US economy each year, create $320 million in new federal tax revenues annually, and result in some 40,000 new jobs here in the United States. Additionally, the Obama administration predicts that the result will also reduce the budget deficit by $425 million while increasing revenues by $135 million.