Emerging Chinese Market a Good Sign for Hawaiian Timeshare Industry

The American tourism and timeshare industries have never given much attention to tourism from China. The Great Wall of China, the long fortress which kept the country’s enemies at bay thousands of years ago, is now also a symbol of how much the rest of the world is cut off from China in terms of communications and marketing.

Slowly however, with the increasing convenience of air travel, more and more Chinese tourists have been coming to North America, and the US tourism industry has noticed it.

The number of well-to-do Chinese vacationing in the United States is expected to rise by 15 percent this year. Majority of these more than half a million Chinese tourists will be headed to Hawaii.

Despite the negative effects on worldwide travel caused by the H1N1 flu pandemic last year, Chinese tourism to Hawaii has remained strong.

Honolulu Star Bulletin quoted Mike McCartney, president and chief executive of the Hawaii Tourism Authority as saying, “Chinese visitors have become Hawaii’s highest daily spenders, and recent bookings show that outbound travel from this growing market is picking up again.”

A sales and marketing team from the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau is scheduled to fly to Shanghai within the month to promote Hawaii as a top meeting and convention destination.

This projected rise in visitors from China means there is an emerging new market for timeshare owners looking to resell or rent their Hawaiian timeshare weeks out to the tourists.

Timeshares in the islands of Hawaii have always been prime and exotic properties. However, with the current economy, most American vacationers now prefer holidays spent closer to home in order to save on airfare. This puts Hawaii vacations out of the question. But with international markets like the Chinese, should they prefer to travel out of their respective countries, Hawaii is always the perfect tropical getaway destination.

Interestingly, it seems Hawaiian timeshares have been gaining strength. Reports say lately, occupancy in Hawaiian timeshares has exceeded those of Hawaiian hotels.