Wyndham Vacation Ownership’s global leaders will be representing the company at the 2012 annual Australian Timeshare and Holiday Ownership Council (ATHOC) Conference from 9-11 September in Cairns, Queensland.

Franz Hanning, President and CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership, along with the company’s Chief Operations Officer, Geoff Richards based in the United States, have travelled to Australia to share their knowledge about the vacation ownership (timeshare) industry.

Wyndham Vacation Ownership is the world’s largest vacation ownership business with more than 800,000 owners worldwide across about 160 resorts and hotels, providing thousands of jobs and a significant contribution to the tourism industry.

Mr. Hanning will be providing an update on the vacation ownership industry talking about its positive economic impacts related to spending and employment.

Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific, which has its corporate office on the Gold Coast, Queensland, is part of Wyndham Vacation Ownership’s family of companies, employing more than 1300 people in the South Pacific, and providing approximately 45,000 vacation owners with 23 resorts.

Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific CEO and Managing Director, Barry Robinson will open the conference as the ATHOC President, discussing the resilience of the vacation ownership industry in the Asia Pacific despite the recent economic downturn. 

“While Australia’s tourism, hotel and property industries have all been hit hard from the shockwave of the Global Financial Crisis, timeshare has remained buoyant. In fact, Australian timeshare resorts have continued to have a consistently high occupancy rate at close to 86 per cent,” Mr. Robinson said.

“The Australian vacation ownership industry is worth more than $1 billion dollars and not only has our industry shown great resilience, some timeshare companies have found themselves in a strong position to continue to grow their property portfolios,” he added.

The 2012 ATHOC Conference will be held from 9-11 September at the Pullman Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns and is expected to attract more than 130 delegates from the industry.