Raju Shahani, president and general manager of RCI in Asia & Middle East said: "The new regional office in Dubai will be the operational hub for the RCI community in the region. RCI has a strong member base in the region and has been serviced by their Cairo office. Members in the AGCC states can now access the services from the Dubai office."

RCI operates the world's largest vacation exchange network, RCI Weeks with three million members around the world. In addition to the AGCC markets, the Dubai office will service other Arab markets such has Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

Dubai has been chosen as the site for RCI’s regional office for the city's contemporary approach to business. "Undoubtedly, Dubai is the most modern city in the Arab region. It has the state-of-the-art technology in telecom and IT services. The city also has the best tourist infrastructure in the region with huge potential for time share business."

With the development of new beachfront properties in Jumairah and the new palm development project a number of resorts projects are under construction in Dubai. "The Palm itself will be a big boost to the timeshare business in the region. Currently, the Middle East region has 38 operational resorts and 28 under construction. Property developers and owners are showing keen interest in developing timeshare based properties in Dubai," said Yehia El Noweiem, country manager of RCI.

The new timeshare properties coming up at Palm Jumeirah include $300 million project to build a 300 room five star hotel and a 460 room resort project being developed by Kuwait-based International Financial Advisors Group, which has a substantial interest in timeshare business in Portugal, South Africa, Lebanon, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

"We see a big surge in timeshare based tourism in Dubai. We are very bullish about the prospects in terms of revenue, market growth and government support," said Jasim Al Bahar, chairman of IFA.