Saudi, UAE have highest hotel rooms under construction: report

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have the highest number of hotel rooms under construction in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, STR Global said in its April report.

The UAE topped with 56,701 rooms under construction followed by Saudi Arabia (42,571 rooms) and Oman (4,129 rooms).

Hotel supply in the region has continued to grow as the region registered a total of 565 properties with 150,108 rooms under construction in April, the report said.

Of the total, about 424 hotels (125,052 rooms) are in the Middle East, while the rest are in the African region.

The Middle East total represented a 9.3 percent year-over-year increase in the number of rooms in the final phase of the development pipeline. The region reported an additional 30,203 rooms in the final planning stage and 45,991 rooms in planning, STR noted.

However, total hotel room construction was down 7.1 percent year-over-year with 13,854 rooms in final planning and 26,534 rooms in planning stage.