The Middle East hospitality sector has registered a total of 156,445 rooms under contract in 563 hotel projects, representing a 2.5 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2016.

According to the STR April 2017 Pipeline Report, the Middle East also recorded a 3.8 per cent increase in rooms in construction with 83,980 rooms in 272 hotels under construction for the month.

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

The STR report also highlighted the development in Africa, which reported 59,632 rooms in 324 projects under contract, an 8.3 per cent increase in rooms under contract compared with April 2016. The continent also recorded 31,004 rooms in 172 hotels under construction for the month, 3.8 per cent year-over-year increase in rooms in construction.

Among the countries in the Middle East and Africa, Saudi Arabia reported the most rooms in construction with 28,427 rooms in 47 projects. UAE followed with 20,557 rooms in 72 projects.  One other country reported more than 5,000 rooms in construction: Qatar (7,343 rooms in 31 projects).

STR provides clients from multiple market sectors with premium, global data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. - TradeArabia News Service