STR’s July hotel pipeline data showed 427 projects accounting for 123,742 rooms in construction in the Middle East and 138 projects and 25,986 rooms in construction in Africa.
The Middle East total represented a 2.1 percent year-over-year increase in the number of rooms in the final phase of the development pipeline. The region reported an additional 30,240 rooms in the final planning stage and 45,948 rooms in planning.
The Africa room construction total was down 1.8 percent year over year. Africa also showed 17,485 rooms in final planning and 23,954 rooms in planning.
Between the Middle East and Africa, four countries showed more than 4,000 rooms under construction. The United Arab Emirates led with 54,438 rooms, which represented 31.8 percent of the market’s existing supply, followed by Saudi Arabia (41,207 rooms; 40.5 percent of supply). Qatar followed with 14,518 rooms (53.5 percent of supply) succeeded by Oman (4,589 rooms; 24.1 percent) and Egypt (4,100 rooms; 2.4 percent.)