Lodging Econometrics’ (LE) Q3 2024 Latin America Construction Pipeline Trend report signals growth for the region’s hospitality industry. The pipeline currently stands at 642 projects and 104,513 rooms, representing robust year-over-year (YoY) increases of 11% in project count and 10% in room count.
Digging deeper into the pipeline data, LE’s report highlights several positive indicators. At the close of Q3 2024, Latin America had 269 projects with 47,151 rooms under construction, reflecting a 10% YoY rise in both metrics. Additionally, the number of projects scheduled to start construction within the next 12 months grew to 183 projects and 30,184 rooms, up 7% by project count and 9% by room count YoY. Even the early planning pipeline expanded, increasing 17% YoY to 190 projects and 11% YoY to 27,178 rooms.
The report also provides insights into the regional hotel pipeline by chain scale segment. The upscale (134 projects/18,592 rooms), luxury (121 projects/24,924 rooms and upper-upscale (104 projects/21,300 rooms) chain scales emerged with the largest pipelines. Geographically, Mexico (229 projects/35,975 rooms) and Brazil (103 projects/15,731 rooms) accounted for a significant 52% of the total project count and 50% of the room count. The Dominican Republic followed with an all-time high of 59 projects/14,407 rooms, then Colombia with 27 projects/3,671 rooms.
The cities with the largest pipelines included Mexico City (23 projects/2,761 rooms), Georgetown (13 projects/1,800 rooms), Sao Paulo (12 projects/2,559 rooms), Lima (12 projects/1,914 rooms) and Riviera Maya (12 projects/1,421 rooms).
During Q3 2024, the Latin American pipeline experienced 50 new project announcements totaling 9,775 rooms, while 27 projects commenced construction. Looking at completed projects, the region saw 49 new hotel openings comprising 9,688 rooms through the third quarter. LE forecasts an additional 42 new hotels with 5,661 rooms to open in Q4 2024, bringing the total for the year to 91 new hotels and 15,349 rooms.
Looking ahead, LE’s projections point to a sustained growth trajectory, with 108 new hotels and 19,551 rooms forecast to open in 2025, followed by a further increase to 138 new hotels and 19,513 rooms in 2026.