Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore are the preferred destinations of Indian tourists. About 7.5 lakh Indian tourists visited these countries in 2005, and the number is growing by about 25% every year.
"We would like to extend the opportunity to our members to holiday overseas by expanding to Thailand and Malaysia," Ramesh Ramanathan, managing director of Club Mahindra Holidays, said.
Club Mahindra, a Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) company, and Sterling are planning to raise Rs 100-Rs 150 crore through initial public offerings and foreign currency convertible bonds, which would be partly utilised for the expansion.
Club Mahindra will be listed within a year after the listing of M&M's other subsidiary, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services.
The international properties after acquisition would be available to time-share and regular tourists.
Time-sharing, or booking of holidays for a number of years, is gaining popularity in the wake of the rising average room rates (ARR).
ARRs in places like Goa and Bangalore are rising at an annual rate of 20% and 60%, respectively. The pre-booking of holidays through time-sharing enables a traveller to keep the ARR at a fixed level for 15-25
years.