As many as 628 hotel projects are currently under contract in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region and together they will add 147,454 rooms into the booming hospitality sector, said a report.

The 'under contract' data includes projects in the "construction, final planning and planning" stages but does not include projects in the unconfirmed stage, stated leading research group STR Global in its Construction Pipeline Report for August.

Among the key markets in the region, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, reported the largest increase in existing supply. It will register over 115.7 per cent growth if all 7,396 rooms under contract open, the report said.

Four other markets reported more than 50 per cent expected room growth: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (over 113 per cent with 10,095 rooms); Doha, Qatar (over 79.7 per cent with 10,828 rooms); Lagos, Nigeria (over 63.3 per cent with 2,397 rooms); and Muscat, Oman (over 55.6 per cent with 3,006 rooms), said STR Global, which provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information.-TradeArabia News Service