The Middle East reported a 5.1 per cent increase in rooms under contract in January compared to the same period last year with 85,827 rooms in 269 hotels under construction for the month, said a report.

Under contract data includes projects in the  construction, final planning and planning stages but does not include projects in the unconfirmed stage.

Currently, there are 159,581 rooms in 556 hotel projects under contract in the region, according to the January 2016 STR Global Pipeline Report.

The under contract total in the Middle East represents a 5.1 per cent increase compared with January 2016 and rooms under construction showed a 6.8 per cent year-over-year increase.

Among the key markets in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia reported the largest number of rooms under construction with 36,742 rooms in 85 projects. Three other markets reported more than 5,000 rooms under construction: UAE (28,898 rooms in 99 projects);  Qatar (8,462 rooms in 34 projects); and  Egypt (5,734 rooms in 14 projects). - TradeArabia News Service