Slowdown in Mideast hotel development pipeline

The Middle East and Africa hotel development pipeline has shrunk by nearly 2,600 rooms since April, new figures have revealed.

The latest data from STR Global for June has shown that the region's pipeline of planned hotels stood at 455 properties totalling 126,310 rooms.

This compared to 467 hotels in the development phase in April and nearly 129,000 rooms.

According to the June 2010 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report, the UAE retained its place as the top spot in the region for development projects.

It accounted for nearly 50 percent of total rooms in the total active pipeline for the region.

The country ended the month with 54,814 rooms in the total active pipeline. The UAE also reported the most rooms in the In Construction phase with 29,292 rooms.

Saudi Arabia reported 16,680 rooms in the total active pipeline, followed by Egypt (7,332 rooms) and Morocco (6,047 rooms).

Among the key markets in the region, Dubai ended the month with the most rooms in the total active pipeline (32,224) and the most rooms in the In Construction phase (16,768).

Neighbour Abu Dhabi followed with 14,456 rooms in the total active pipeline and 8,479 rooms in the In Construction phase.

Three of the seven Chain Scale segments each accounted for more than 20 percent of rooms in the total active pipeline.

The Upper Upscale segment made up 27.1 percent with 34,200 rooms, followed by the Unaffiliated segment (25.6 percent with 32,287 rooms) and the Luxury segment (21.1 percent with 26,697 rooms).

Separately, Middle East business intelligence provider MEED has said that the combined value of the 100 largest projects in the GCC region that are either completed or underway during the last two years totals over $1.3tn.

The research also indicates that Saudi Arabia and the UAE account for a majority of the developments, with 31 and 35 ongoing projects respectively.

Highlighting the real estate sector’s dominance in the region despite the global financial crisis, the study has highlighted the approximate value of transport projects in the GCC as $164bn, while that for oil and gas is nearly $131bn.