MIAMI, Florida — KEY tourism stakeholders here are anxiously awaiting the passage of the Timeshare Vacations Bill tabled in the House of Representatives by Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill, arguing that the legislation will enhance the island’s tourism product offering.

“If the Jamaican Government can pass this law it would provide a great incentive for developers to consider developments in the island. And if they do that, Jamaica is going to benefit greatly from it,” Keith Stephenson, the director of state government affairs at the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday during the 16th Annual Shared Ownership Investment Conference that ended at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach in Florida on Wednesday.

“The average hotel stay is three to four days, but the average timeshare stay is an average eight days, so the fact they [visitors] are actually

pre-purchasing timeshare means that they are going to come in every year to stay eight days, so that will greatly impact the economy, and there is no doubt that it is going to help bolster that marketplace. There is no doubt about that,” Stephenson stressed.

Timeshare is a model in which multiple parties own rights to use typically a resort condominium unit at different time periods. But there are a few timeshare properties in Jamaica — unlike other Caribbean islands such as St Marteen and Aruba — which has less than one per cent of the timeshare market in the region.

Jamaica’s poor showing in that tourism sub-sector — one of the fastest growing sectors in the world hospitality trade — is being blamed by tourism industry stakeholders on the delay by the country in putting in legislation to guide property development and to protect the interests of investors and consumers.

Successive Jamaican Governments have long argued that the development of the timeshare market will have positive implications for generating new economic opportunities for Jamaicans in many areas of enterprise.

They have argued, too, that if the necessary regulatory framework is put in place, the island would be able to attract the world’s most timeshare operating brands.

On Tuesday, Stephenson, who told the Observer that he has been working with the Jamaican Government since 2009 to develop the regulatory framework for the timeshare sub-sector, argued that the enactment of the legislation will provide a good mix for the island’s tourism product.

“Right now Jamaica is very renowned for its all -inclusive resorts and cruise destinations, but the reality is that Jamaica is a beautiful country and there is a lot more to it than the

all-inclusive resorts. So what the legislation will do is to attract people who want to buy timeshare and really develop other segments of the hospitality industry,” he explained.

Richard Khan, a marketing consultant who has worked for several tourism organisations in the US and the Caribbean regions, says he remains hopeful that the piece of legislation

will be “a protective, but progressive plan”.

“If it is that, then it will obviously create opportunities, because developers will look at that plan and say the legislation is good, it’s protective of the consumers, but it’s not restrictive on us coming in, and so we are coming into Jamaica because Jamaica is a very popular destination,” he argued.