Abu Dhabi: The Middle East is expected to see 158,714 new rooms in 554 hotels that are currently under contract, while Africa will see 57,740 rooms in 310 projects under contract.
According to the latest Pipeline Report from STR, a data provider, the under contract figures for the Middle East in October 2016 represent an 11.7 per cent increase in rooms compared with October 2015. In Africa, the under contract total represents a 7.8 per cent increase over October 2015.
Under contract data includes project in the in construction, final planning, and planning stages, but does not include projects that are unconfirmed.
In the Middle East, data for hotels under construction shows there are 84,477 rooms in 260 hotels in construction, marking a 9.1 per cent increase year-on-year.
Among key markets in the Middle East and Afirca, Makkah in Saudi Arabia reported the most rooms in construction, with 24,090 rooms in 15 projects.
Dubai was the only other market to report more than 10,000 rooms in construction, with the city reporting 19,687 rooms in construction across 67 hotels. Another data provider, HotStats, said in a report last week that Dubai’s hotels continued to face challenges, forcing hoteliers to cut costs in order to reap higher profits. Lower demand also pushed hotels to cut rates, with average room rates falling 6.5 per cent year-on-year in September 2016.
Meanwhile, in Africa, the under contract total represents a 7.8 per cent increase compared to October 2015. STR’s report also pointed that there were 30,032 rooms in 164 hotels in the in construction phase in Africa — an 8.3 per cent increase year-on-year, STR said.