A leading U.S. marketing and public relations executive has called The Bahamas' outlook for timeshare development "very good", given a combination of underdevelopment of the sector and high demand from timeshare clients for vacations in this destination.
A recent study has indicated that The Bahamas is the most highly preferred individual destination in The Caribbean for would-be timeshare vacationers, achieving 36.5 percent preferability as a vacation destination in vacation services firm Interval International's 2013 Industry Insight survey.
President of Kahn Travel Communications (KTCpr) Richard Kahn told Guardian Business the opportunities in that market are "wide open" and there is no question that industry experts believe there is tremendous opportunity in the Caribbean, particularly in places like The Bahamas.
While timeshare products like the Blue Water Resort at Cable Beach and the Island Seas Resort have been successful in The Bahamas, Kahn pointed out that the country's timeshare market is not overgrown, so there are opportunities for developers to come in.
"That means there are fantastic opportunities for those developers that want to go in because there is not a lot of competition and when you talk about opportunities and development, competition is one of the key words. So the opportunities in The Bahamas are wide open," he said.
"This bodes well for the Caribbean. For The Bahamas, the outlook is very good. The timeshare industry is extremely important."
Based on several studies conducted, Kahn said another good reason that timeshare is important to the destination is the fact that timeshare owners spend more than the average hotel guests.
"They spend more on car rentals, restaurants and shopping. The reason for that is because they have already paid for their accommodation in advance so they have more discretionary money to spend on doing things on the island," he revealed to Guardian Business.
"On average, timeshare owners spend more and stay a week or more. This is based on spending studies that we have done in the destinations."
According to Interval International's 2013 Industry Insight, the preferred destinations for its clients are The Caribbean, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Europe and Mexico.
These were cited as the most popular international vacation destinations, with approximately 39 percent, 36.5 percent and 25 percent, respectively, of U.S. members planning to vacation in these regions during the next two years.

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