Is Timeshare Dead? 10 Million South African Travellers Say No

Every generation inherits a few travel ideas from the one before it. Some we hold onto lovingly – the family road trip, the coastal December holiday, the ritual of returning to a place that knows our names. Others arrive heavy with baggage, but with a longing to carry that baggage too. For many South Africans, “timeshare” sits firmly in that latter category. 

The word evokes a particular era of travel: one week, the same resort, the same view, the same contract filed away in a drawer somewhere. It calls up stories about memberships no one knew how to exit, escalations that outlived their enthusiasm, and obligations passed – sometimes reluctantly – from parents to children. For today’s young travellers, shaped by spontaneity, online bookings, low-cost flights and flexible itineraries, it is easy to believe that this old model has long since died. 

And so the phrase surfaces again and again: timeshare is dead. 

But travel, like the people who do it, rarely fits neatly into declarations. It shifts, adapts, and evolves. 

The reality is that while the inflexible formats of decades past deserved their criticism, the concept of shared holiday ownership did not quietly disappear. Instead, it changed shape alongside us. Newer models have blurred the lines between the predictability of guaranteed holidays and the fluidity that modern travellers crave.  

Fiona Broom talks about how companies such as the Beekman Group have been part of this evolution, and one particular milestone makes it hard to argue that the model has faded away: The Holiday Club quietly celebrated sending its 10 millionth guest on holiday. 

Ten million suitcases zipped. Ten million decisions to go. Ten million moments where families chose this model not because they had to, but because it worked for them. Ten million South Africans are saying that timeshare – in some form – isn’t dead.