Dubai is leading the Middle East and Africa for new hotel developments, and can expect to see a total of over 100,000 rooms by 2020, according to a report.
Activity in the hospitality sector is at an all-time high, with 96 projects and 36,523 rooms in the pipeline, according to a report published ahead of the Hotel Show Dubai 2015, set to be held in September. The new rooms will add to the existing 65,000 currently available.
There are a total of 694 hotel projects underway in the wider Middle East and Africa, which is set to add 188,817 rooms to the market over the coming years, according to Christine Davidson, event director of the show. The majority of these will be delivered before 2020.
“Hotel and leisure development, build and investment is significant and set to continue, making Dubai the perfect contract market for global suppliers and investors,” Davidson said.
The busiest year for Dubai will be 2017, which will see 30 new projects open to the public. These include the city’s first fully solar-powered hospitality development, Hotel Indigo in Dubai Sustainable City, as well as the upcoming Bulgari Hotels and Resorts and the first Dubai property of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.
The Dubai Pearl development, which will feature six five-star hotels, is said to launch in early 2018 and will include Dubai’s first MGM Grand and Bellagio hotels, brands made famous by the Las Vegas strip.
Other hotspots in the region are Morocco, with 46 active projects, Riyadh with 43 and Doha with 38. Of the 694 hotel projects in the pipeline, 528 are listed as being in the pre-planning, planning or construction stages.