The Middle East/Africa hotel development pipeline includes 468 hotels comprising 126,464 rooms, according to the August 2009 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report released last week.

“In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates is exploding on the scene with four times the projects in the In Construction phase compared with its closest competitor, Saudi Arabia,” said Duane Vinson, vice president at STR. “With 54 projects currently being built in Dubai alone, they are poised to be a major factor in the pipeline for years to come.”

The United Arab Emirates had 59,543 rooms in the total active pipeline, the largest amount of any country in the region. Saudi Arabia also accounted for a large portion with 11,110 rooms.

Four of the seven Chain-Scale segments accounted for over 80 percent of the rooms in the total active pipeline. The Luxury segment had the largest percent, accounting for 25.1 percent (31,706 rooms). The Unaffiliated segment made up 24.3 percent (30,739 rooms). The Upscale segment (21.2 percent and 26,829) and the Upper Upscale segment (17.2 percent and 21,791 rooms) also were responsible for a large portion of the total active pipeline. The Midscale without Food and Beverage segment accounted for the smallest portion of the total active pipeline: 1.2 percent and 1,503 rooms.

Middle East/Africa pipeline by Chain-Scale segment for August 2009 (number of rooms):

Chain Scale

Existing Supply

In Construction

Total Active Pipeline*

Luxury

45,954

20,909

31,706

Upper Upscale

71,390

15,999

21,791

Upscale

76,062

19,093

26,829

Midscale w/ F&B

61,456

5,343

7,602

Midscale w/o F&B

1,796

756

1,503

Economy

12,444

3,095

6,294

Unaffiliated

327,631

12,555

30,739

Total

596,733

77,750

126,464

About STR Global 

STR Global provides clients—including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the

hotel industry—access to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and South America. STR Global provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, segmentation data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. Hotel operators can join the surveys on a complimentary basis and benefit from free industry data. STR Global is part of the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR, STR Analytics and Hotel News Now. For more information, please visit www.strglobal.com.