But it is being held back by a poor public image and a lack of expertise and understanding, he argues in a report, Status of the Vacation Ownership Market in Southeast Asia, released by his company, C9 Hotelworks this week.
Mr Barnett reports that he contacted a number of “experts” in the industry, and that their responses “indicate that now is a good time to be selling vacation ownership in Southeast Asia.
“Many cite the size of the market opportunity and a growing middle class in many Asian countries.” He quotes one respondent as saying, “In many parts of the world vacation ownership has experienced the best growth when real estate and hospitality markets start to dip.
“Southeast Asia is experiencing softening of real estate markets in some areas and/or overbuilding in other areas.”
The responses, Mr Barnett said, show that the best markets for vacation ownership in the region are Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, though one respondent identified Myanmar as having potential “in the not too distant future”.
He notes that more than half of the vacation ownership resorts in the region are in Thailand (35pc) and Indonesia (23pc), followed by Malaysia (21pc) and the Philippines (17pc).
The industry is by no means fully grown, Mr Barnett writes.
“It is estimated that there are well under 500,000 members and owners of vacation ownership in resorts located in Southeast Asia.
This equates to a penetration rate of vacation ownership in the region of far less than 1.0 per cent.
“By way of comparison, 7.9 per cent of all United States households are reported to own vacation ownership.
“There is clearly a massive growth opportunity in vacation ownership in this region.”
He argues that a lack of legislation and regulation is a hurdle.
“The biggest problem facing the success of the vacation ownership industry in Asia today is the public image of the product.
“This is typical for a developing region with limited or no consumer protection regulation. Asian timeshare legislation and regulation is lacking or non-existent and varies widely between countries.”
“There is also a lack of local expertise and understanding of vacation ownership in this region. Most developers don’t fully understand the product and often do not wish to bring in foreign expertise.
“Going forward, the sector has missed a substantial opportunity over the past seven years during a massive ramp up of leisure real estate sales in Southeast Asia.
“International hotel groups have embraced the trend and benefited but the vacation ownership sector has yet to put forward a convincing case to developers and buyers about the benefits of the product.”