More than 300 hospitality properties are under construction in the Middle East, which, on completion, will add 105,037 rooms to the current supply. Of this Makkah and Riyadh alone will boast nearly 30,000 rooms, according to industry monitor STR.

Saudi Arabia’s focus on tourism as one avenue to diversify the kingdom away from oil dependence is receiving a boost with a slew of hotel projects now under construction, stated STR in its latest data on Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.

In capital Riyadh, a total of 6,290 hotel rooms are now being built to complement the 13,104 rooms in inventory while in Makkah city about 23,307 are now in construction, which will add to the 32,377 rooms already in the market, it added.

In other Gulf areas, current hotel projects in Dubai would add 36,394 rooms to the 97,736 rooms in supply while in Abu Dhabi about 4,064 rooms are now being constructed to boost the 26,678 rooms available to clients, said the report.

According to STR, the revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily rate (ADR) of Jeddah hotels slightly dipped in January despite an increase in demand during the month.

The ADR was 2.4 per cent lower to SR732.33 while RevPAR slipped 2.1 per cent to 370.3 on an industry occupancy rate of 50.6 per cent. RevPAR, a key hotel industry performance indicator, is obtained by multiplying a hotel’s ADR by its occupancy rate, it stated.

“The month’s high demand growth figure was boosted by the school holiday during the middle of January,” STR said in its report.

Hotel room availability in Jeddah was up 11.7 per cent in January, while demand grew at a faster 12.1 per cent rate, it stated.

On the Africa scenario, STR report said a total of 146 projects are being implemented in the region which will add another 26,030 rooms.-TradeArabia News Service