The Middle East reported a 42.8 per cent increase in rooms under contract in January compared to the same period last year with 80,350 rooms in 251 hotels under construction for the month, said a report.

Under contract data includes projects in the  construction, final planning and planning stages but does not include projects in the unconfirmed stage.

Currently, there are 538 hotels totalling 151,771 rooms under contract in the region, according to the January 2016 STR Global Pipeline Report.

The under contract total in the Middle East represents a 42.8 per cent increase compared with January 2015 and 50.4 per cent year-over-year increase in rooms under construction.

Among the key markets in the Middle East and Africa, Makkah in Saudi Arabia reported the largest number of rooms under construction with 21,068 rooms in 13 hotels. Three other markets reported more than 5,000 rooms under construction: Dubai, UAE (19,846 rooms in 63 hotels); Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (6,738 rooms in 30 hotels); and Doha, Qatar (5,980 rooms in 26 hotels). – TradeArabia News Service