Asia-Pacific

Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific (abbreviated as Asia-Pac, AsPac, APAC, APJ, JAPA or JAPAC) is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean. The region varies in size depending on which context, but it typically includes much of East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.

The term may also include Russia (on the North Pacific) and countries in the Americas which are on the coast of the Eastern Pacific Ocean; the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, for example, includes Canada, Chile, Russia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States.

Alternatively, the term sometimes comprises all of Asia and Australasia as well as small/medium/large Pacific island nations (Asia Pacific and Australasian Continent) - for example when dividing the world into large regions for commercial purposes (e.g. into Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific).

On the whole there appears to be no clear cut definition of "Asia Pacific" and the regions included change as per the context.

Though imprecise, the term has become popular since the late 1980s in commerce, finance and politics. In fact, despite the heterogeneity of the regions' economies, most individual nations within the zone are emerging markets experiencing rapid growth. (Compare the concept/acronym APEJ or APeJ - Asia-Pacific excluding Japan.)

Wyndham Worldwide

Wyndham Worldwide Corporation is the holding company for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, RCI and other lodging brands. It was spun off from Cendant Corporation in July 2006.

Wyndham Worldwide, headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, operates several hotel brands across the world.

Wyndham Hotel Group

Wyndham Hotel Group offers brands in lodging franchising, vacation ownership, vacation rentals and vacation exchange. It is composed of nearly 7,400 hotels under 15 brands spanning 66 countries in 6 continents, competing in brand markets ranging from economy to upscale. Wyndham Worldwide is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey and has more than 40,000 employees around the world. Lodging management services are provided to upscale properties through Wyndham Hotel Management.

In early 2008, Global Hyatt Corporation announced that the Wyndham Worldwide Group would purchase US Franchise Systems, Inc., owner of the Microtel and Hawthorn Suites brands, for $150 million. The transaction closed July 21, 2008. US Franchise Systems had previously sold the America's Best Inn (formerly Best Inns) chain to the Country Hearth Inns chain in 2005. That holding company is now known as America's Best Franchising Inc.

Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific

Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific (formerly Trendwest South Pacific) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation which operates as a vacation ownership, allowing vacationers to own real estate interest in one of the Wyndham resorts.

History

20th century

Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia-Pacific was founded in November 1999 and opened its Corporate Offices at Bundall on Australia's Gold Coast in January 2000. Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific opened its first South Pacific sales center at WorldMark Denarau Island, Fiji in March 2000. This was followed by sales centers at Upper Mount Gravatt & Lutwyche (Brisbane), Lane Cove, Parramatta (Sydney), Newcastle (NSW), Port Macquarie (NSW), Hawthorn and Doncaster (Melbourne), Kirra Beach (Gold Coast), and Auckland (New Zealand).

See also

Wyndham

Wyndham may refer to:

Places

Other

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.

At 165.25 million square kilometers (63.8 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean—and, in turn, the hydrosphere—covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined.

The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft).

The eastern Pacific Ocean was first sighted by Europeans in the early 16th century when Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and discovered the great "southern sea" which he named Mar del Sur. The ocean's current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacifico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means "peaceful sea".