Can you still afford to go on holiday?
Considering the VAT increase this year and the ongoing petrol price hikes, are holidays still within our reach, especially for larger families? Experts say, "Yes".
With the VAT increase this year and the ongoing petrol price hikes, the following question arises: “Are holidays still within our reach, especially for larger families?”
One of the organisations that has raised this question is the Vacation Ownership Association of Southern Africa (VOASA) but they point out that at the same time, there’s also a hidden high cost to not taking a vacation.
Stress wears us down with consequences that can lead to expensive health conditions further down the road.
According to Alex Bosch, VOASA spokesperson, quality vacations do not need to slip away because of the current tight economy and your credit card does not have to break out into a cold sweat either.
He said timeshare or shared vacation ownership offers a wide variety of holiday options that range from 5-star luxury accommodation through to catering for budget-conscious consumers who have had to tighten their belts.
“Shared vacation owners place value on the cost savings of future vacations when purchasing timeshare. When you think about it, the rise in inflation in the 1970s propelled the growth of timeshare as a more affordable way to enjoy quality vacations. Fifty years on, shared vacation ownership still makes perfect sense,” said Alex.
Peter Snyman from Flexi Club added, “For less than the price of a 60-litre tank of fuel per month, shared vacation ownership has the potential to offer you as many as five holidays per year”.
Alex added, “Timeshare offers home-away-from-home holiday accommodation with full kitchen facilities, which mean even more savings with the cook-and-eat-in option. For a family of 4, preparing just one meal a day while on vacation can save you as much as R3 000 during a week’s getaway. And as a bonus, you’ll get much more space for your money than you would in a standard hotel room for the same price. Shared vacation owners are also not subject to premium season accommodation rates, which means they are saving up to 50 per cent on their accommodation.”
Dale Galloway, Marketing Manager for Leisure Portfolio Club, said she believes that it is important to help consumers not only get the holiday they can afford, but that they also get a guaranteed holiday annually with further exchange options.
“For example, you could secure 15 years’ worth of annual 5-night getaways outside of school holiday periods accommodating up to 2 adults and 2 children under 12 at Crystal Springs Mountain Lodge – a 4-star resort (Tourism Grading Council of South Africa accredited) – for as little as about R4 911 per year. This would work out at R245 per person per day and if you consider what a resort costs per night, this is extremely reasonable. It will also give more South Africans an opportunity to get away in the face of rising costs,” she says.
Over 15 years, this adds up to about R73 665 invested in family vacations. Over the same period, you would have paid approximately R112 050 in accommodation bookings at the same resort, without taking inflation into account.
The value of timeshare vacations means having a world of options at your fingertips, so for those looking at giving timeshare a try, there’s also a rental option. The Holiday Club has recently launched a vacation product that allows you to experience everything that timeshare has to offer without purchasing timeshare or points outright. If, at the end of that period, you are happy with the product, you then have the option to purchase.
So while consumers are having to budget very carefully, the importance of saving money for valuable bonding experiences, like family vacations, shouldn’t be overlooked.
“The inherent value of timeshare products comes in using them to take regular vacations with accommodation that provides more space than most other travel options. This is why shared vacation owners have an extremely engaged relationship with their timeshare and the timeshare lifestyle that is driven by the quality of resorts and accommodations, prime locations, cost savings on future vacation costs and making a vacation a certainty rather than a possibility,” concluded Alex.
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