DUBAI - About 30,000 hotel rooms are planned in Dubai, the regional business and leisure hub, despite the city's tourism sector suffering in an economic downturn, latest figures by hospitality research firm STR Global showed on Wednesday.
Of these, 15,291 are under construction and will be an addition to the existing supply of about 60,000 rooms.
In neighbouring Abu Dhabi, 13,701 rooms are planned with 6,939 in the construction phase, STR said.
Across the Middle East, 442 hotel developments are in the pipeline that will add 120,440 rooms over the next few years.
The UAE leads the regional hotel construction market, but has been hit by a construction sector downturn.
Several hotel projects have been put on hold or cancelled due to developers facing a cash crunch.
An oversupply of rooms has increased competition for existing hotels and brought down occupancy levels and revenue per available room (RevPar), a key measure of hotel performance.
