A total of 541 hotels (152,580 rooms) are in the pipeline in the Middle East while 289 hotels (55,078 rooms) are under contract in Africa, a new report has unveiled.

STR’s April 2016 Pipeline Report said 'under contract' includes projects in the in construction, final planning and planning stages, but does not include projects in the unconfirmed stage.

The 'under contract' total in the Middle East subcontinent represents a 41.3 per cent increase in rooms under contract compared with April 2015 and a 40.9 per cent year-over-year increase in rooms under construction.

The Middle East reported 80,933 rooms in 251 hotels under construction for the month.

The under contract total in the Northern Africa and Southern Africa subcontinents represents a 26.7 per cent increase in rooms under contract compared with April 2015 and a 39.6 per cent year-over-year increase in rooms under construction. Africa reported 29,856 rooms in 155 hotels under construction for the month.

Among the key markets in the Middle East and Africa, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, reported the largest number of rooms under construction with 20,790 rooms in 11 hotels.

Meanwhile, three other markets reported more than 5,000 rooms under construction: Dubai, UAE (20,291 rooms in 65 hotels); Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (6,870 rooms in 31 hotels); and Doha, Qatar (6,100 rooms in 27 hotels). - TradeArabia News Service