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If The World Comes To An End, Vacation While You Can.

The economy creeps to a halt and energy prices are soaring. The NASDAQ plummets, while lay offs escalate. A water shortage is promised and black outs are common. Earthquakes rattle the west coast, while snow flurries paralyze the east. Is the world coming to an end? Maybe. But people are still vacationing.

In fact, vacation travel seems unbothered by forces of nature or economy. The Travel Industry Association predicts a 4% increase in winter travel this year. Airline traffic keeps increasing and online bookers such as Travelocity. com say bookings to prime vacation spots like Florida, Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean were up 25% in the first five weeks of this year, as compared to the same time frame from the previous year.

What does it mean? It means that consumers may tighten their belts or alter the way they vacation, but they will not stop vacationing. Life today is a hurried and harried place, where free time is a rare commodity. Vacations are priceless. If the end were imminent, consumers would be willing to give up purchasing a new car, home appliances or even furniture. They would be willing to give up anything but their vacations. Instead of forgoing a vacation, today's consumers will travel more wisely, looking for new ways to maximize their hard earned vacation dollars.

Timeshare resales are one of the ways consumers are discovering to make their vacations more affordable. "The average price for a retail timeshare is $10,000, plus fees, but that same property in the timeshare resale market sells for $3,000 to $4,000", says David Skinner, president of the Holiday Group, a Seattle based timeshare resale company, in business since 1992.

By avoiding the high marketing costs that a developer incurs to sell a retail timeshare, timeshare resales consumers can typically save 60-80%. The timeshare resale market makes up about 8 percent of the timeshare industry. Last year the resale market grew to $400 million, and it has increased steadily for the past five years.

Because consumers value their free time more than ever, they are traveling much more wisely. Vacations provide relief from the doom and gloom that consumers encounter every day. Perhaps that is why there is no time like the present to vacation.