Almost half the 120,589 hotel rooms under construction in the Middle East and Africa are in the UAE, according to STR Global Construction Pipeline Report.
Emirates accounts for the 57,126 hotel rooms, said the travel research company in its report. While Saudi Arabia came second with 10,986 rooms, Morocco and Qatar will add 5,924 and 5,408 rooms respectively, it said.
The report carried out by a local news paper, Emirates Business , said that Middle East and Africa hotel development pipeline includes 442 hotels comprising 120,589 rooms.
Under the hotel chains segments, three hotel chains accounted for more than 20 per cent of rooms being built in the region.
The unaffiliated segment made up 25.2 per cent (30,387 rooms), the largest portion of the total active pipeline. The luxury segment accounted for 24.6 per cent (29,646 rooms).
The upscale segment reported 25,940 rooms for 21.5 per cent of the total active pipeline. The midscale - without food and beverage - segment accounted for the smallest portion of the total active pipeline at 1.3 per cent and 1,558 rooms.
A number of upscale and lifestyle hotels are opening in Abu Dhabi in time for Formula 1 on November 1. Aldar Hotels and Hospitality will open seven hotels on Yas Island. "We will have 2,500 rooms open on Yas Island for the race," Paul Bell, Managing Director Aldar Hotels and Hospitality told Emirates Business.
On completion, Aloft Hotel will provide the UAE capital city with 408 hotel rooms, making it the second largest hotel in Abu Dhabi, in terms of capacity, according to Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (Adnec).
Simon Horgan, CEO, Adnec Group, said: "For an exhibition development to be successful it must have accommodation on site to suit all people. The high demand and relatively low supply of hotel accommodation in Abu Dhabi is a concern for our international exhibitors and visitors.
"So I am delighted that the first hotel to open at Adnec will be the city’s second largest and one of its most competitively priced." According to Lodging Econometrics, a global firm tracking hotel real estate, the Middle East will see 99 new hotels and 25,829 hotel rooms open in 2009, including those in development pipeline and the sale and transfer of lodging real estate, followed by 110 hotels and 31,725 rooms in 2010. A majority of these will be in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
In its lodging forecast and construction pipeline report on Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea), Lodging Econometrics said in the first quarter of 2009, a total of 68 new hotels with 11,924 guest rooms opened in the Emea region, about 60 per cent of which were in Europe and 28 per cent in the Middle East. "The global economic crisis, which has affected credit availability and caused a decline in consumer and business travel, resulting in occupancy and room rates declining throughout Emea, is having a serious impact on lodging development," said Lodging Econometrics.
New openings in the Middle East and Africa are poised to accelerate each year into 2011. While the total new openings in Europe for 2009, at 277 hotels and 38,879 rooms, will be down 10 per cent compared to 2008. In 2010, however, guest rooms are expected to bounce back and set a new high, with 278 new hotels and 47,464 rooms scheduled to open, the report said.
At 477 hotel projects and 142,702 guest rooms, the Middle East’s total projects have fallen 14 and 13 per cent respectively from a peak in the second quarter of 2008, according to the findings.
Also, with more than 53 per cent of the region’s total projects currently under construction, new hotel openings in the Middle East are expected to accelerate in 2009, 2010 and 2011 "as large, iconic projects come online", said the report.
The pipeline in Dubai alone stood at 124 hotel projects and 48,558 guest rooms, representing 34 per cent of all guest room developments in the region, according to the report.
It said Dubai’s average hotel project size is 392 rooms, "one of the highest for any country or market worldwide, second only to Las Vegas".
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