Middle East hotel pipeline third largest in world

The Middle East and Africa hotel development pipeline is the third largest in the world, comprising 449 hotels totaling 123,631 rooms, according to the August 2010 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report released this week.

The region came third in the world for the number of hotels in the pipeline, after the Asia/Pacific pipeline which comprises a whopping 1,037 hotels totaling 255,208 rooms, and the Europe hotel development pipeline which has 699 hotels but fewer rooms that the MEA pipeline at 120,266.

United Arab Emirates reported the largest number of rooms in the total active pipeline (53,833 rooms) and in the In Construction phase (27,970 rooms) among the countries in the region, while Saudi Arabia followed UAE with 16,464 rooms in the total active pipeline and 7,895 rooms in the In Construction phase.

Among the key markets in the region, Dubai, UAE, reported the most rooms in the total active pipeline with 31,512 rooms, as well as in the In Construction phase with 16,307 rooms. Abu Dhabi also reported a significant number of rooms in the total active pipeline (14,749) and in the In Construction phase (7,884 rooms).