Saudi Arabia leads as Middle East defies global trend on hotel room development: STR report

Saudi Arabia leads as Middle East defies global trend on hotel room development: STR report

RIYADH: Hotel pipeline activity in the Middle East and Africa bucked a global trend by seeing an uptick at the end of 2022, according to data released by analytics company STR. The figures show that in December, 238,635 hotel rooms were under contract in the region, a 1.1 percent rise on same month in 2021. That increase was in contrast to other all other regions, with Europe posting a decline of 11.2 percent, Asia Pacific seeing a 5.4 percent drop and the Americas registering a 3.2 percent fall. Leading the way in hotel room construction in the Middle East and Africa was Saudi Arabia, accounting for 40,742. The UAE was second, with 27,456 rooms. The construction in Saudi Arabia is in keeping with the Kingdom’s goal to attract 100m visitors to its borders by the end of the decade as part of its Vision 2030 plan. Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh last October, Gloria Guevara – the chief special advisor to the Minister of Tourism – said Saudi Arabia was making the most of its natural “assets”, such as the Red Sea, in a bid to boost the fledgling sector.