In business.

The Gulfs hospitality sector seems to be shrugging off the effects of the economic downturn with 283 properties and well over 80,000 rooms to be added to the regions tally

THE Middle East hospitality sector has jostled its way through the recession to remain reasonably busy this year, with the construction of several new hotel chains suggesting that although the region suffered some unavoidable delays and cancellations of projects, it has emerged less impacted than many other areas on the globe

Gulf Business echoes this view. Despite taking some undeniable hits, the Gulfs hospitality sector is in relatively good form, with this years pipeline of new hotel rooms confirmed as being the second largest on record, according to the magazines annual survey of the sector published in June

A total of 48 new hotels with 14,178 rooms are expected to be opened by the end of this year at an estimated cost of $7.3 billion, according to a study conducted by Dubai-based research company Proleads early this year. Of this total, most of them will be located in the UAE (worth $4.4 billion) followed by Saudi Arabia ($1.2 billion), Qatar ($620 million), Bahrain ($490 million), Oman ($300 million) and Kuwait ($90 million), it says. New hotels that are planned or under construction will add significantly to the room tally for the region. According to the August 2010 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report, a total of 449 hotels totalling 123,631 rooms are in the Middle East/Africa hotel development pipeline

Among the countries in the region the UAE has the largest number of rooms 53,833 rooms in the total active pipeline and 27,970 rooms in the construction phase. Saudi Arabia followed the UAE with 16,464 rooms in the …