New ME hotels pipeline sees big slowdown

February saw a major slowdown in the number of new hotels being added to the development pipeline of the Middle East and Africa region.

The region has a total of 457 hotels in the development pipeline, latest data from STR Global has showed, just one more than the previous month.

The research company's February report said that there were 124,142 rooms in development, up by about 400 on January.

In January, 14 new hotels were added to the development pipeline, compared to the last month of 2009, while hotel rooms under construction grew by more than 3,000.

The UAE continued to report the largest number of rooms in the total active pipeline with 52,566, followed by Saudi Arabia with 14,178.

Among the major markets in the region, Dubai ended February with the most rooms in the total active pipeline with 30,139, followed by Abu Dhabi with 14,171, while Lebanon was one of two countries which reported less than 1,000 rooms in development.

Among the hotel sectors, three accounted for more than 70 percent of the total active pipeline - the Upper Upscale segment (31,434 rooms); the Unaffiliated segment (31,448 rooms); and the Luxury segment (26,366 rooms).

The Economy segment was responsible for just 3.9 percent of February's development pipeline with 4,889 rooms.

The report said that the region currently boasted more than 576,544 hotel rooms with a further 71,331 rooms under construction.

On Tuesday, research firm Proleads said more than 14,000 hotel rooms would come on line in the GCC region in 2010.

Dubai-based research company Proleads said that the region is likely to see 48 new hotels with 14,178 rooms open in 2010, at an estimated cost of $7.3 billion, despite the impact of the global economic crisis.

The figures come prior to The Hotel Show, taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from May 18-20.