Qatar's tourism sector is likely to see a near-70 percent growth in hotels, the largest in the Middle East and Africa, latest STR Global data has showed. The Middle East/Africa hotel development pipeline for January comprised a total of 495 hotels totaling 131,981 rooms, according to STR Global's construction pipeline report. Among the countries in the region, Qatar reported the largest expected growth (up 69.9 percent) if all 7,340 rooms in the country's total active pipeline open. The Gulf state is looking to dramatically expand its tourism offering as it starts to look ahead to hosting the World Cup in 2022. More than 6,000 hotel rooms came online in Qatar in the third quarter of last year, as 25 properties and 10 hotel apartments entered the market, the country's ministry of tourism said earlier this month. The Gulf state is building 77 new hotels and 42 hotel apartments ahead of the FIFA World Cup in 2022. A number of new hotel brands are expected to announce their expansion in the country this year, either as stand-alone projects or part of mixed use developments. Five other countries are expected to grow more than 40 percent if all rooms in the active pipeline open. Oman, which is aiming to attract 12 million visitors a year by the end of the decade, will see a 68.8 percent increase with 4,504 rooms slated to open. The number of hotels in Saudi Arabiais expected to increase by 54 percent with 25,398 rooms in the construction pipeline.
