Dubai to get more than 100,000 hotel rooms by 2020

Arabian Business staff writer, June 25th, 2015

Dubai will host more than 100,000 hotel rooms by 2020, up from the 65,000 currently available, a new report has forecast.

The study published by TopHotelProjects for The Hotel Show Dubai 2015 reveals that Dubai is leading the Middle East and Africa for new hotel developments with 96 total projects and 36,523 rooms in the pipeline.

It said hospitality activity in the emirate is now at "an all-time high" with the total of rooms set to exceed 100,000 by 2020.

The busiest year for Dubai hotels is reported to be 2017, with 30 projects opening to the public.

Dubai's first fully solar-powered hotel, Hotel Indigo Dubai The Sustainable City, and its first Mandarin Oriental and Bulgari luxury hotels are to open that year.

The report added that the major Dubai Pearl development, a mix of six five-star hotels is reported to launch in early-2018 including Dubai's first MGM Grand and Bellagio hotels, brands made famous by the Las Vegas strip.

According to the report, other hotspots are Morocco with 46 active projects, Riyadh with 43 and Doha with 38.

Of almost 700 total hotel projects in the pipeline for the Middle East and Africa, 528 are listed as being in the pre-planning, planning and construction stages.

Christine Davidson, event director of The Hotel Show Dubai, which will take place in September, said: "With TopHotelProjects reporting a record total of 694 hotel projects currently underway in the Middle East and Africa, set to add 188,817 rooms to the market over the coming years, the majority before 2020, this is an exciting time for our industry and market."