Saudi Arabia leads MidEast surge in new hotels construction

Saudi Arabia led the Middle East and Africa region in the construction of new hotel rooms in August, according to new figures from analysts STR.

The Gulf kingdom has 40,020 hotel rooms in 89 projects in the construction pipeline, ahead of the UAE which has 35,050 in 121 projects.

Qatar was ranked third in STR’s August 2017 Pipeline Report with 9,627 being built in a total of 41 projects.

The report showed 164,898 rooms in 583 hotel projects Under Contract in the Middle East and 57,011 rooms in 308 projects Under Contract in Africa.

Under Contract data includes projects in the In Construction, Final Planning and Planning stages but does not include projects in the Unconfirmed stage.

The Under Contract total in the Middle East represents a 5.4% increase in rooms compared to 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% increase in year-over-year comparisons.