MidEast leads global growth of luxury hotels

The Middle East has led the world in luxury hotel growth since the turn of the century, according to new figures released by STR Global.

The region's luxury and upper upscale offerings grew by 3.9 percent annually since 2000, reaching 190,514 daily rooms.

The upscale and upper midscale category also saw strong growth in the region with 2.4 percent annual growth to 253,958 daily available rooms, STR Global said.

Overall, the Middle East/Africa region saw room supply increase by 2.5 percent annually over the 12-year period.

Total global hotel inventory increased by more than 2,315,000 daily rooms since 2000 to reach 13,443,014 rooms as of February 2012, the data showed.

The global hotel inventory compound annual growth (CAGR) increased by 1.6 percent over the 12-year period, led by Asia/Pacific and the Middle East/Africa region.

Elizabeth Randall, managing director at STR Global, said: “The Asia/Pacific and Middle East/Africa regions led the inventory growth, particularly with the luxury and upper upscale segments, which increased 3.2 percent and 3.9 percent CAGR, respectively."

The data showed that North America remained the leading market for branded hotel rooms (66 percent of the region’s inventory).

Across Europe, total room inventory through February 2012 increased 1.1 percent CAGR during the 12-year period.

Separately, the Middle East/Africa hotel development pipeline comprised 497 hotels totalling 134,585 rooms, according to the March 2012 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report.

The region saw 12 properties open in the first quarter with 2,718 rooms while the region expects 134 more properties to open this year with 34,688 rooms.

The upper upscale segment is expected to open the most rooms in the remainder of 2012 with 27 properties and 8,448 rooms.

In 2013 the region expects 125 properties to open with 31,614 rooms. The most rooms are again expected to open in the upper upscale segment with 36 properties and 10,804 rooms.