The Middle East has 156,460 rooms in 554 hotels currently under contract, while Africa has 56,846 rooms in 300 projects in the same state of development, according to STR’s August 2016 Pipeline Report.
The total in the Middle East represents a 20.1-percent increase in rooms under contract compared with the same month a year ago. Specifically in the "in construction" phase, the Middle East reported 83,653 rooms in 261 hotels, a 14.4-percent increase in year-over-year comparisons.
The total in Africa, meanwhile, represents a 25.4-percent increase in rooms under contract compared with August 2015. Africa reported 29,928 rooms in 157 hotels in construction, a 22.6-percent increase in year-over-year comparisons.
For the whole MEA region, Saudi Arabia has the most rooms in construction with 35,611 rooms in 79 hotels. The United Arab Emirates followed with 28,082 rooms in 97 hotels. Four other countries each reported more than 3,000 rooms in construction: Qatar (7,980 rooms in 34 hotels), Egypt (6,128 rooms in 18 hotels), Jordan (3,161 rooms in 10 hotels) and Angola (3,157 rooms in 26 hotels).
Under Contract data includes projects in the in-construction, final planning and planning stages, but does not include projects in the unconfirmed stage.