Mideast, Africa hotel construction activity down in 2021
ABU DHABI, January 17, 2022
The hotel construction activity across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) witnessed a sharp decline last year with a total of 130,225 rooms being built, down 5.5 per cent over 2020, according to December 2021 data from STR.
On the MEA scenario, the final planning saw a total of 38,765 rooms (-14.3%); while the planning saw 67,142 rooms (+2.8%). The total under contract rooms hit 236,132 down 4.9% over 2020.
The regional activity was mainly led by heavyweights Saudi Arabia (40,269 rooms) and the UAE (31,715), stated the leading provider of premium data for the global hospitality sector.
Globally too, the hotel construction activity fell with a total of 221,789 rooms being built in 2021, down 7.6 per cent over the previous year. Only the Asia Pacific region witnessed increased hotel construction activity, said the STR report.
On Europe, the report said a total of 221,789 rooms were built, down 7.6 per cent over 2020.
The final planning saw a total of 163,805 rooms (-4.9%); while the planning saw 159,232 rooms (+4.7%). The total under contract rooms hit 544,826 down 3.5% over 2020.
For the European region, Germany (45,121) and the UK (31,464) were the main growth drivers.
For the Asia Pacific region, which was the most active globally in terms of hotel construction activity, the in-construction rooms were: 473,983 (+5.0%); final planning: 170,210 rooms (-3.8%); Planning: 297,687 rooms (+16.3%) and total under contract: 941,880 rooms (+6.5%).
Among countries, China (290,265) topped the region with the most rooms in construction, followed by Vietnam (30,546).
For Americas, in construction was: 211,453 rooms (-16.8%); final planning: 220,044 rooms (-20.6%); planning: 329,474 rooms (+39%); total under contract: 760,971 rooms (-1.0%)
The US holds the majority of rooms in construction in the region. After the Americas, Mexico (14,020) and Canada (6,856) ranked second and third, respectively, in room construction.
