New hotel developments in prime tourism destinations in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the UAE, remain substantial despite the pandemic.

According to new research commissioned by Arabian Travel Market and conducted at the end of 2021 by hotel market intelligence and global benchmarking company STR, Makkah and Doha are both expanding their hotel room inventory by 76 percent, followed by Riyadh, Medina and Muscat with 66 percent, 60 percent and 59 percent  growth respectively.

In Dubai, room growth stands at 26 percent , which is still extraordinary, considering its existing base and following years of continuous hotel development – it is still more than double the global average.

According to the report, there are almost 2.5 million hotel rooms currently under contract around the world, 3.2 percent or 80,000 rooms of that supply is taking place in Saudi Arabia alone.

Although Expo 2020 in Dubai is now drawing to a close (31 March 2022), the mega event has been the catalyst for accelerated hotel room growth in the UAE with almost 50,000 rooms still due to open across the Emirates.

Following closely behind is Doha, with final preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2022 now being put in place. Doha is on track to deliver 23,000 hotel rooms pre- and post-World Cup 2022, adding to the country’s burgeoning hotel property portfolio.