Over 890 hotels under construction in MEA

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) hospitality market is witnessing robust growth with a total of 891 hotel projects under construction in the region, said a report. Of this, about 583 projects comprising 164,898 rooms are under contract in the Middle East region, stated STR, a leading provider of global hotel data, in its August 2017 Pipeline Report. The under-contract data includes projects in the in-construction, final planning and planning stages but does not include projects in the unconfirmed stage. Among the MEA countries, Saudi Arabia has the highest number of rooms (40,020 rooms in 89 projects) in the in-construction stage followed by the UAE with 35,050 rooms in 121 projects. The under contract total in the Middle East represents a 5.4 per cent increase in rooms under contract compared with August 2016. Specifically in the in-construction phase, the Middle East reported 98,027 rooms in 309 hotels. Based on number of rooms, that is a 17.2 per cent increase in year-over-year comparisons. On the total 308 projects (57,011 rooms) under contract in Africa region, the STR report said it represented a 0.3 per cent increase in rooms compared to August 2016. Specifically in the in-construction phase, Africa reported 28,260 rooms in 160 hotels. Based on number of rooms, that is a 5.6 per cent decrease in year-over-year comparisons.