American Resort Development Association (ARDA) produced press release in series aimed at changing perceptions of timeshare.

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There’s been some good news for the industry, recently. Research shows that consumers are becoming more positive about their ability to afford to travel. According to a recent blog post by Peter C. Yesawich, chairman & CEO of the Orlando-based YPARTNERSHIP, the Ypartnership/US Travel Association Traveler Sentiment Index (TSI) has jumped to the highest level since April 2007. The TSI monitors six key factors each month through consumer surveys. Four of these – the perception of the affordability of travel, interest in travel, time for travel and money available for travel – showed improvement.

Says Yesawich, “The overall TSI now stands at 95.2, up 9.2 percent from October 2010. The February survey revealed a substantial increase in the "affordability of travel" index (up to 118.2 in February 2011 from 105.2 in October 2010), suggesting that consumers are increasingly more positive about their ability to afford to travel than just three months ago. It still remains below its July 2009 peak of 124.0, however, when travel suppliers ramped up discounts and special offers to counteract the impact of the Great Recession.”

“Positive increases have also been observed in "interest in travel," "time for travel" and "money available for travel," all of which returned to levels last seen in February 2008, thereby suggesting the travel and tourism industry can expect a rebound in leisure demand during the year ahead.”

Often when an owner is behind in their maintenance fee payment, they’re behind in their monthly loan repayment, too

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