Five hottest development markets in the Middle East

INTERNATIONAL REPORT — New construction continues to be the biggest driving factor for the hotel development pipeline in the Middle East, according to data from Lodging Econometrics.

At the end of the second quarter, the pipeline for markets in the Middle East stood at 647 total projects and 158,377 rooms. The top five markets account for 58% of the projects and 55% of the rooms in the total development pipeline.

The Provincial market of Saudi Arabia is the top market on the list, with 117 projects and 26,168 rooms. All but four of those projects are new construction. LE defines the provincial market as all other provinces in Saudia Arabia except Riyadh, Jeddah and Makkah. Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (also known as Medina) has the most hotel development in this market, with 25 projects and 10,629 rooms.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is the No. 2 market with 87 projects and 16,883 rooms. All but one of the projects are new construction.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the No. 3 market with 74 projects and 21,176 rooms. Three of the city’s projects account for nearly 20% of the rooms in the pipeline.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is the No. 4 market with 57 projects and 12,384 rooms. Fifty of those projects are new construction.

Doha, Qatar, is the No. 5 market with 40 projects and 9,890 rooms. Of those 40 projects, all but two are new construction.

Top five hotel development markets (Middle East)