The Middle East and Africa region is seeing sustained momentum in its hospitality development pipeline, with 104,572 hotel rooms currently under construction and 50,683 expected to open in 2025.
Leading this expansion is Saudi Arabia, which has 42,800 rooms under contract as of April 2025 — the highest in the region — driven by its giga projects and large-scale tourism developments under Vision 2030, according to the latest data from CoStar.
Despite a wave of hotel openings in recent years — notably in Dubai ahead of Expo 2020 and in Qatar before the 2022 FIFA World Cup — the total number of rooms under contract across the MEA region has continued to grow steadily.
“It is encouraging to see total under contract pipeline continuing to expand across the MEA region,” said Kostas Nikolaidis, senior account manager at STR. He added that this momentum reflects rising demand across markets. “As hotel room demand continues its steady growth at +1.9 percent in the March YTD period, future investment in the sector continues to expand.”
Saudi Arabia’s 42,800 rooms under contract as of April represent a year-on-year increase of 6,817 rooms. This growth is fueled by ongoing mega-projects and strategic investments aimed at transforming the Kingdom into a global tourism hub.
“Specifically for rooms under construction, the Saudi Arabia Regional submarket recorded the highest increase with 11,450 rooms in April 2025 compared to 9,716 rooms for the same month last year,” Nikolaidis noted. “A great sign of progress as giga projects keep their pipeline moving across the three pipeline phases (proposed, final planning, under construction).”
Long term view
Zawya Projects earlier reported that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Egypt are driving the MEA region’s hotel development pipeline, citing data from CoStar that shows 50,683 rooms are expected to open in 2025. The global real estate analytics provider also revealed that while the number of rooms in final planning dropped by 21.8 percent to 28,875, those in the planning phase rose by 17.1 percent to reach 94,056 — reflecting continued long-term confidence in the sector.
In Saudi Arabia, the holy cities of Makkah and Medina are major contributors to this expansion, with 17,646 and 20,079 rooms, respectively, spread across different stages of development.
Meanwhile, Qatar and the UAE — particularly Dubai — are also playing a prominent role in regional hospitality growth. According to CoStar, Dubai is expected to add 5,344 rooms in 2025, while Riyadh and Jeddah will contribute 3,485 and 3,156 rooms, respectively.
Across the broader MEA region, hotel development reflects strong investor and operator confidence, despite global economic headwinds. Governments across the region continue to prioritise tourism as a key economic pillar, backed by infrastructure upgrades, supportive policies, and ambitious national diversification strategies.
With Saudi Arabia firmly in the lead, the MEA hospitality sector is well-positioned for sustained expansion, supported by long-term capital commitments and a robust development pipeline.
Source: Zawya
