For the First Time, Saudi Arabia is constructing more hotels than the UAE.

When it comes to hotel construction in the area, the UAE is no longer in the lead.

In comparison to the UAE, Saudi Arabia is said to be building roughly twice as many hotel rooms.

In terms of the number of hotel rooms now being created, Saudi Arabia trails only China and the US internationally.

As of March 2023, the MEA area has more than 119,500 hotel rooms under construction in total, a 5.8% decrease from the previous year.

Saudi hospitality sector

With 42,033 rooms now under development, Saudi Arabia is in first place. Next, with 22,324 hotel rooms under development, is the United Arab Emirates.

With about 250,000 hotel rooms now under contract, the MEA hotel pipeline forecast is still positive despite the drop in development.

The STR data provides specifics on hotel rooms that are either being built now or are in various stages of planning:

119,505 rooms are under construction (down 5.8%).

Planned final number of rooms: 45,529 (+20.4%)

Rooms planned: 84,116 (+21.2%)

249,150 total units under contract (up 6.4%).

China and the US have begun work on more hotel rooms than Saudi Arabia, which has a pipeline of 154,284 and 299,458 respectively.