09 March 2008 -Dubailand®, a member of Tatweer, announced today the launch of Dubailand Vacations LLC a new entity specialising in developing timeshare and fractional business models for the region’s biggest leisure, tourism and entertainment destination. The creation of Dubailand Vacations LLC will introduce timeshare developments within Dubailand® generating synergy amongst various theme parks within the destination, creating new market opportunities and contributing to the sophistication of the consumer-driven Dubai tourism, leisure and entertainment markets.

Timesharing vacation ownership has been included as a key component of the overall development strategy for Dubailand®. The concept of timesharing consists on the division of use rights of resorts or urban accommodations into increments of time such as a week. These use rights are then sold to the consumer either in perpetuity or for a finite period of time such as 20, 30 or more years; the consumer pays a one time purchase price for the use rights and an annual maintenance fee.

As an early entrant in the timeshare industry, Dubailand® will seek to leverage the sector’s tremendous global growth over the past few years, with industry sales volumes now exceeding US$10 billion annually, and consolidate its leadership position in the Middle East’s travel and tourism industry.

Dubailand® has taken the lead in formulating rules and regulations on timeshare and other forms of shared ownership in coordination with the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA), Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) and major industry players, including Interval International. When implemented, the new regulations will allow other eligible players to enter the vacation ownership market for the benefit of consumers, developers and Dubai as a whole.

Mohammed Al Habbai, CEO of Dubailand® said: “Vacation ownership is one of the most evolving segments in the hospitality and leisure industry. As a trend, publicly-traded hospitality companies are now actively developing a full range of offerings at different price points in resort and urban destinations, in contrast to what was once a sector dominated by private developers alone.

“Timeshares and other forms of shared real estate ownership within Dubailand® will allow us to cater to the varying needs of our future visitors with a world class offering. Demonstrating our dedication to deliver on the tourism objectives of Dubai Strategic Plan 2015, our move will also help us enter a promising segment of the travel and tourism sector in the region.”

Recent Dubai Government research has revealed that 20 per cent of the predicted 15 million annual tourists (in 2012) will opt for accommodation alternatives to traditional hotel rooms, with many expected to favour timeshare options. Currently, the Middle East region holds less than five per cent of the world’s vacation ownership developments.