Arabian Falcon Holidays yesterday announced the launch of Dubai's first timeshare vacation ownership project — the Royal Club at The Palm Jumeirah, company officials said.

"Over the past 22 years, the popularity of vacation ownership properties has grown tremendously at an annualised rate of 17 per cent. It attained an impressive Dh35.2 billion in annual sales during 2003," said Al Mohannad Sharafuddin, chairman of Arabian Falcon Holidays.

The project is a joint venture between Arabian Falcon Holidays, a UAE-based tourism marketing company, and Pervaiz Naviede, chief executive of Legendary Property Co, a United Kingdom company.

"The Royal Club project will be completed by June 2006. We have initiated our marketing and sales operations covering the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] countries where we see the largest opportunities and interest," he said.

Arabian Falcon's Royal Club at Palm Jumeirah, worth Dh44 million, is a 50 apartment development made up of one- and two-bedroom units, company representatives said.

The apartments are situated on the trunk of The Palm Jumeirah in the shoreline apartment blocks under construction by Nakheel, the official developers of The Palm projects.

Each apartment has 51 weeks of holiday occupancy time and one week for annual maintenance, company representatives said.

The Royal Club at The Palm Jumeirah is affiliated with Interval International, a vacation exchange network with more than 1.7 million member families, they said.

With more than 2,000 affiliated resorts in 76 countries, Interval provides its members with a variety of exchange services, they added.

" Nakheel encourages investors [to investigate] The Palm Jumeirah," Al Sharafuddin said.

"Arabian Falcon Holidays' luxury holiday accommodation at the Royal Club adds vitality to Dubai's vibrant vacation market with the best opportunity ever to own membership on The Palm Jumeirah for life," he said.

"[We believe] introducing vacation ownership in Dubai is a positive development. It will augment the options available to regional and international vacationers looking towards Dubai as an ideal place to spend their annual family holidays," Pervaiz Naviede said.