The luxury IFA Yacht Ownership Club and prestigious Palm Golden Mile residential and retail development being undertaken by IFA Hotels & Resorts, a subsidiary of Kuwait-based International Financial Advisors Company (IFA), have found a keen following at the 27th International Boat Show in Cannes, France.

"We have received strong interest from European clientele for our Palm Golden Mile project, which is a joint venture with Nakheel, developers of The Palm, Jumeirah," said Piaras Moriarty, Marketing Director of IFA's Palm Vacation Club. "We have been marketing our last remaining inventory in this magnificent, waterfront destination.

"International visitors to the show are warming to the company's combination of leisure products, and are interested in adding them to their portfolios.

"The Cannes boat show, which attracts in excess of 50,000 international visitors annually has proved to be a business generator for us and enabled us to reach the high-end yachting fraternity, which is a key element of our target market."

IFA's Palm Vacation Club is the first, five-star timeshare concept to be launched in Dubai. It is just one element of the IFA business model, which also includes the development of five-star hotels with residential units, freehold villas, town houses and apartments.

The Golden Mile is to be an international shopping and residential destination, covering 60-000 square metres - one whole side of The Palm, Jumeirah's trunk. It will include a 1.5 kilometre waterside Corniche. The project is being developed at a cost of US $300 million and will comprise more than 800 luxury apartments in 10 waterside buildings and 220 upscale boutiques and restaurants.

IFA's expanding integrated leisure offering now includes its Yacht Ownership Club - an innovative flexible yacht timeshare program. The club's first vessel - IFA Dubai - a 22-metre luxury, hand-crafted vessel by Italy's Maiora, is based in the Arabian Gulf. Its second - IFA Cannes - unveiled at the Cannes International Boat Show - will be berthed on the French Riviera with a third - IFA Beirut - due to be based in Lebanon.

"The Yacht Ownership Club is a valuable addition to IFA's leisure inventory," explained Moriarty. "It gives timeshare members in our resorts in Europe, South Africa and the Middle East the opportunity to exchange their land-based weeks for use of our yacht fleet, while yacht ownership club members can convert their timeshare afloat into allocations at our upscale resorts."

IFA Hotels & Resorts aims to link these timeshare products to create a network that will provide alternatives for high-end users.

In South Africa, IFA Hotels & Resorts is developing a 250 unit vacation club - the Sun Zimbali Hotel & Vacation Club on Zimbali Lakes and a timeshare project in Zanzibar. In the Middle East, it has appointed Fairmont Hotels & Resorts to manage its 460 suite vacation club on The Palm, Jumeirah and plans to develop its timeshare offering in Beirut, Lebanon, are underway.

In addition to offering an extensive linked network of high standard timeshare destinations, IFA Hotels & Resorts has affiliated with Resort Condominiums International (RCI), the global leader in vacation property exchange.

"This affiliation means that our vacation club owners will now have access to a membership exchange programme which already boats 3 million member families and spans around 3,700 affiliated resorts in more than 100 countries around the world," said Moriarty.