The shared ownership industry in South Africa is growing, and the Vacation Ownership Association of Southern Africa marked its ‘best ever conference’ while welcoming a ‘new dawn’ in legislation, products, financing and services.

Delegates in Main Hall

The Vacation Ownership Association of Southern Africa (VOASA) operates as the regulatory body for the shared vacation ownership industry in Southern Africa, which includes timeshare, fractional ownership and private residence clubs. VOASA assists consumers as well as trade professionals and organisations with all aspects of the vacation ownership market.

The body held its 2010 conference 29-31 August at the Southern Sun Elangeni Hotel in Durban, with over 200 delegates from South Africa, the UK, USA and Zambia in attendance.

Says Deon Viljoen, chairman of VOASA and director of operations for Southern Sun Lifestyle Resorts: “This was the best ever conference for the vacation ownership industry in South Africa – with the largest attendance and the most speakers, both local and international.”

The event was well organized with a broad coverage of topics of general interest to all delegates and from the chats at the coffee stations the delegates were excited about the information shared and motivated to apply the concepts that had been discussed,” says Marjorie Forssman, managing director, Vacation Recreational Services. “The speakers were well prepared and applied their knowledge to applications within the industry.”

“It was very well attended and organized,” agreed Shelley Mackay-Davidson, director, Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs. “There were interesting topics and I also like the way they’re spread into workshops so that people who weren’t interested in a particular topic could perhaps choose another workshop to go to. I’m a lawyer, so I found the ones dealing with the legal aspects most interesting,” she adds. But Mackay-Davidson said that what struck her most was the cross section of people that attended the event. “It was a range and it wasn’t just from the selling point of view,” she says, noting that the conference actually had actual sales agents as well as marketers, magazine and online media professionals, people with insights into the psychological aspects of selling and ownership, and, of course, representatives from the legal field. “The legal aspects in South Africa are particularly interesting at the moment because they are changing quite rapidly,” Mackay- Davidson says.

Alex Bosch, Executive Director, VOASA

“The vacation ownership industry in South Africa is in good shape, is well represented, and is gearing up for a new dawn,” Viljoen says. “There is a whole host of new things happening. In terms of legislation, there is the upcoming Consumer Protection Act, which will help us set new benchmarks and standards in the industry, as well as the new Companies Act which is going to have an impact in the next year or so. “The new King III Report gives guidance on the roles and responsibilities of the directors of boards,” Viljoen continues. “All of this will help us to improve standards and have a really professional industry.”

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Tags: Durban, Fractional Ownership, Private Residence Clubs, shared ownership, South Africa, Timeshare, UK, USA, Vacation Ownership Association of Southern Africa, VOASA, Zambia