§ 157. Definitions. 1. "Travel consultant" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership or association, other than a common carrier or employee of a common carrier, who as principal or agent, sells or offers for sale any travel tickets or orders for transportation, or negotiates for or holds himself out by solicitation, advertisement or otherwise as one who sells, provides, furnishes contracts or arranges for such travel tickets or orders for transportation.

For the purposes of this article, "carrier" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership or association engaged in the business of transporting persons for hire.

2. "Travel promoter" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership or association, other than a common carrier or employee of a common carrier, who is primarily engaged in the direct solicitation of persons, by mail or telephone, for the sale of any travel or vacation investments, goods, products, or services, including, but not limited to travel or tour benefits, real property, interests in real property, time shares, lodging, commodities, or securities. For purposes of this article, a "travel promoter" does not include:

a. A person, firm, corporation, partnership or association that is an officially appointed agent of a common carrier and meets standards no less than those required on January first, nineteen hundred eighty-nine, for authorized agents of the airline reporting corporation.

b. A person, firm, corporation, partnership or association that is a registered member in good standing of the Cruise Lines International Association and who solely solicits and/or sells travel services and products as an officially appointed agent of one or more ocean carriers in the sale of the ocean carrier's travel services pursuant to the agency appointment.

c. A broker-dealer registered with the securities and exchange commission or the department of law who is engaged in the sale of securities or commodities or sale or rental of real estate pursuant to its registration.

3. "Travel services" means transportation, accommodations in lodgings such as hotels, motels or motor courts, rental of motor vehicles, or any other service related to travel. For purposes of this article, "travel services" shall include investments in time shares.

4. "Time share" means an interest in any arrangement, plan, scheme, or similar device, whether by membership, agreement, tenancy in common, sale, lease, deed, rental agreement, license, or right-to-use agreement or by any other means, whereby three or more purchasers, in exchange for a consideration, receive ownership rights in or a right to use the same accommodations or facilities in real property, or both, for different intervals of less than a full year during any given year, but not necessarily for consecutive years, and which extend for a period of more than three years or which, for nominal consideration, may be renewed to continue for a period of more than three years.

5. "Merchant account number" means an identifying number given by a credit card issuer to a merchant for purposes of identifying the merchant in the processing of credit card charges and purchases.