A report published for The Hotel Show Dubai 2015 by Top Hotel Projects reveals that Dubai is leading the Middle East and Africa for new hotel developments with 96 total projects and 36,523 rooms in the pipeline.

Dubai has been the Middle East and Africa’s leading city for hotel openings for the past 3 years, but activity is now at an all-time high with the new rooms to be added to the existing 65,000 reported by JLL as currently available in 2015, set to bring the total to over 100,000 by 2020.

The busiest year for Dubai hotels is reported to be 2017, with 30 projects opening to the public. Dubai’s first fully solar- powered hotel, Hotel Indigo Dubai The Sustainable City, and its first Mandarin Oriental and Bulgari luxury hotels are to open in 2017. The major Dubai Pearl development, a “mix of six innovative 5-Star hotels” is reported to launch in early-2018 including Dubai’s first MGM Grand and Bellagio hotels, brands made famous by the Las Vegas strip.

Other hot spots are Morocco with 46 active projects, Riyadh with 43 and Doha with 38.

Of almost 700 total hotel projects in the pipeline for the Middle East and Africa, 528 are listed as being in the pre-planning, planning and construction stages, with local and international investors now requiring the materials to build across technology and security, interiors, food services and more.