UAE has 20,000 hotel rooms in pipeline

The UAE has the biggest number of hotel rooms under construction in the Middle East and Africa region, according to latest figures published by STR Global.

Its November 2012 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report showed that the emirates has a total of 20,030 rooms being built, with Saudi Arabia second with 16,496.

The UAE is set to continue to dominate the STR Global after plans were revealed earlier this month to build 100 new hotels as part of the multi-billion dollar Mohammed Bin Rashid City project.

STR Global said the Middle East/Africa hotel development pipeline currently comprises 480 hotels totalling 119,932 rooms.

The total active pipeline data includes projects in the In Construction, Final Planning and Planning stages but does not include projects in the Pre-Planning stage.

Apart from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, STR Global said four other countries ended the month with more than 2,000 rooms under construction.

Data showed that Egypt had 4,692 rooms, Qatar had 3,764 rooms, Jordan had 2,447 rooms and Morocco had 2,329 rooms.

Last week, an Ernst & Young report said Dubai hotels enjoyed a 17.3 percent rise in revenue per available room (RevPAR) in October while occupancy rates rose more than five percent.

Its Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey also showed that average room rates rose nearly 10 percent in October.

Year to date, Dubai's occupancy rate rose to 79 percent while RevPAR increased by 12 percent and average room rates increased by 8.7 percent.