The BW Group has announced that the International Riviera fractional resort in Tunisia has affiliated with The Registry Collection exchange programme.

The five-star residential resort development will consist of 60,000 wholly-owned and shared-ownership properties. The first phase, due for completion in 2011, will include 50 water-front villas to be sold on a one-eight or one-sixth, share of freehold, fractional basis.

The concept for the resort, created by BW Group chairman Bobby Wahi, sees a series of integrated villages styled on various global locations – including Cannes, St. Tropez, Marbella, Miami and Monaco. The development will also feature a Las-Vegas-style casino complex and golf, spa, marina amenities.

Under the new affiliation agreement, purchasers will be able to participate in the property portfolio of The Registry Collection exchange programme, a global network with access to more than 160 properties.

Gregg Anderson, global managing director of The Registry Collection programme, explained: “Our goal is to offer our members the finest vacation destinations in the world. The International Riviera development will certainly be one of the most unique and exciting fractional property developments in the world when it is completed.”

Master developer the BW Group is set to replicate the resort model in China, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Beihai people’s municipal government to develop a 26-kilometre square island in the South China Sea. The Weizhou Island resort will be a mixed-use luxury development development catering for both the domestic and international markets.