Middle East and Africa hotel rooms under contract up 29% in October

Dubai: There were 781 hotels with 195,705 rooms under contract in the Middle East and Africa region in October this year, according to a new report by hotel research firm STR Global.

The number of rooms under contract last month were 29.1 per cent higher than in October 2014, as per the STR Global Construction Pipeline Report.

Meanwhile, rooms under construction in the region reached 105,177 in 407 hotels for the month, up 43.1 per cent year-on-year.

The upper upscale segment accounted for the largest portion of rooms in the under contract stage, at 30.1 per cent with 58,812 rooms. This was followed by the upscale segment at 21.6 per cent with 42,350 rooms, luxury, unaffiliated and upper midscale.

The upper upscale segment also made up the largest portion of rooms under construction, at 32.6 per cent with 34,296 rooms. The unaffiliated segment followed at 21.5 per cent with 22,641 rooms. The upscale and luxury segments accounted for 18,499 and 16,346 rooms respectively.

The economy segment accounted for the smallest portion of rooms under contract, at 0.4 per cent with 839 rooms, and in construction, at 0.4 per cent with 401 rooms.