There is a 5.1% increase in rooms that are under contract in the Middle East compared to January 2016 with 159,581 rooms in 556 hotel projects.
Under contract refers to projects that are in the construction, final planning and planning stages. The figures were released by STR and refer to January, 2017.
Saudi Arabia has the highest number of rooms under contract with a figure of 36,742 rooms in 85 projects. UAE is next with 28,898 rooms in 99 projects; Qatar has 8,462 rooms in 34 projects and there are 5,734 rooms in 14 projects under contract.
The report adds that in the in construction phase, the Middle East reported 85,827 rooms in 269 hotels. Based on number of rooms, that is a 6.8% increase in year-over-year comparisons.
STR also revealed the supply of hotels in Abu Dhabi is outstripping demand.
The supply of hotels in the UAE capital increased by 3.9% in a year-on-year comparison for January 2017. The demand increased by 2.4% which means there is a shortfall of 1.5% between the two.
The occupancy levels also dropped in January by 1.4% to 74.2%.
A statement issued by STR read: “STR analysts note that Abu Dhabi’s ADR levels were once again pressured by supply growth in the market.
“However, the market’s hotels did record a significant uptick in RevPAR (+23.6%) on the last day of the month, mainly due to the Global Space Congress (31 January-1 February). Occupancy around the event reached 90.2% on 30 January and 89.8% on 31 January.”
