It’s almost November and the holiday season is fast approaching. The hospitality industry will likely reap the benefits of increased travel, which leaves us to wonder how the hotel construction pipelines in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions will change because of it.

Asia Pacific

Pipeline totals for Asia Pacific hit an all-time high at the end of 2Q with 71% of total projects. Standing jobs include 2,317 projects (561,696 rooms) with 1,646 projects under construction. With a total of 3,963 projects, that is an increase of 1,771 since Q1 2012. Both Construction Starts and New Project Announcements into the Pipeline have remained strong. According to LE’s forecast, New Hotel Openings for 2013 have increased since Q1 from 547 hotels and 147,131 rooms to 623 hotels and 145,833. However, their report for 2014 is the lowest in the past four years with an expectation of 573 hotels.

LE reports that there has been a rush to get development projects funded and started to offset the effects of the economic slowdown. However, this region still has the greatest growth potential available for global franchise companies with 44% accountancy for all rooms. They represent a third of all current projects globally.

China

China is still holding strong with the largest Pipeline in the world with 406,480 rooms. However, with 1,502 Pipeline projects, it comes in second to the United States when measured by development. Projects set to start within the next year are down by 24%. Early planning has slowed as it is down by 8%. The economy in Europe and slower than expected recovery in North America have become immediate concerns for China as neither situation offers any chance for near term relief.

In an effort to change this, China’s government has issued new sponsored infrastructure projects and lending institutions have been instructed to liberalize lending practices. Because these practices have worked in the past, China plans to continue to make additional economic stimulus a top priority.

India

Although India’s Pipeline is the third largest in the world, its Pipeline projects are down 5% with a total of 370 projects (66,867 rooms). To make matters worse, India has dropped 17% for overall projects and rooms since Q4 IN 2010 when it peaked the highest. On the bright side, the Pipeline has seen a steady consistent count in the Under Construction category for over two years. The Pipeline will continue to increase with 83 hotels (14,457 rooms) scheduled to open in 2012, 72 hotels (13,067 rooms) in 2013 and 106 hotels (17,982 rooms) in 2014.

According to LE, India is still seen as a country with great opportunity. Several hospitality businesses are planning to add more hotels in the coming years to both north and central India.

Other Regions

The 25 countries making up the rest of the region account for 436 projects (88,349 rooms) in the Pipeline. This is an increase of 20% for projects and 15% for rooms. With Indonesia being the fifth largest Pipeline, it tops such countries as the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Germany. New Hotel Openings are expected to increase by 2014.