AIRTOURS is planning to expand its timeshare business dramatically by developing 10 new sites featuring hotels within the next three years.
The company is looking to acquire land to build on and operate a mix of owned and managed properties to run alongside its timeshare sites.
Former managing director of the Vacation Ownership division Lorenzo Rastelli has been given the task of looking for locations in the Canaries, Portugal and Costa del Sol. Vacation Ownership sales and marketing director John McDonald has replaced Rastelli as MD.
Chief executive of the accommodation division David Burns, who is overseeing the project, said: “We have not been able to expand our timeshare business as quickly as we would have liked because we haven’t been able to find the sites.
“Lorenzo has agreed to help seek out opportunities where we will then hope to expand the hotel division for our in-house operator and build timeshares next to them.
“It’s a good direction to go in because we have already got our established customers who have bought package holidays from us. We are flying them on our airlines and they are staying at our hotels,” he said.
Airtours currently has 26 hotels and timeshare developments in Gran Canaria and Florida.
n Airtours is set to shelve its weekly Manchester to Fort Lauderdale summer 2000 charter flights after admitting poor take-up for its inauguralservices.
Airtours Holidays managing director Chris Mottershead said: “We are reviewing the operation, but it is very likely we will drop the service.”
He said holidaymakers preferred flying to Orlando, the main charter destination for the UKmarket, and Fort Lauderdale was less well known among UKvisitors.