More than 30 new properties have been added to the Middle East/Africa hotel development pipeline in May, latest data from STR Global has revealed.
The pipeline now comprises 474 hotels totalling 128,344 rooms, according to the May 2011 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report.
This compares to 443 hotels totalling 122,775 rooms in April which itself was 11 hotels more than in March.
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Among the countries in the region, Qatar showed the largest expected room growth (84.4 percent) if all 7,002 rooms in the total active pipeline open.
Other countries with large expected room growth include: Oman (67.7 percent growth with 4,211 rooms in the total active pipeline); the UAE (59.5 percent with 50,908 rooms); Bahrain (55.3 percent with 3,557 rooms); and Algeria (51.6 percent with 1,744 rooms).
Last month, Saudi’s Jabal Omar Development Company inked deals with Hilton Worldwide, Marriott International and Hyatt International to operate a slew of hotels at its $5.5bn project in Makkah.
The three hotel chains will operate 12 properties at the mega development, which will house 37 hotel towers up to 48-storeys tall and provide accommodation for 45,000.
Middle East hotel rates continued to lead the global market in April, with revenues per available room (RevPAR) at $147 during the month, despite the political turmoil in the region, according to Deloitte and STR Global data.
Hotel occupancy in the Middle East increased 2.3 percent to 69.1 percent while rates outpaced those in Europe ($94), Asia Pacific ($93) and the Americas ($63), the companies said in a joint report.
In the Gulf, Dubai hotels saw a 8.7 percent increase in occupancy and RevPAR rose 13.3 percent to reach $217, aided by several events including the Faithless world tour and the Gulf Film Festival.
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