In the Latin America Construction Pipeline Trend Report from Lodging Econometrics (LE), analysts report the total construction pipeline stands at 579 projects/95,144 rooms at the close of Q3 2023. The region’s pipeline project counts are up slightly, at 6% year-over-year (YOY) by projects and 5% YOY by rooms. At the Q3 close, there were 93 new project announcements (NPAs), accounting for 415,416 rooms, marking the largest number of new project and room announcements in Latin America since Q2 2017. Similarly, construction starts are the highest they’ve been since Q3 2019, standing at 54 projects/9,433 rooms.
Projects currently under construction are up 3% YOY to stand at 245 projects/43,004 rooms. Projects scheduled to start construction in the next 12 months are at 171 projects/27,737 rooms, for a 4% YOY increase by projects and a 13% YOY increase by rooms. Projects in the early planning stage stand at 163 projects/24,403 rooms at the close of the quarter, up 14% and 16% YOY respectively.
Notably, the luxury and upper upscale chain scales hit record-high project and room counts at Q3, reaching the highest levels ever recorded by LE. The luxury chain scale closed the quarter at 100 projects/19,389 rooms, while the upper upscale chain scale closed Q3 at 108 projects/22,598 rooms.
Mexico continues to have the most projects in the Latin America hotel construction pipeline at the Q3 close, accounting for 39% of projects and 37% of rooms in the region’s total pipeline, with 226 projects/35,572 rooms. Brazil follows with 85 projects/14,304 rooms. The Dominican Republic’s pipeline grew substantially compared to Q3 2022, to close the quarter with a record 42 projects/10,060 rooms. Following the Dominican Republic is Peru with 25 projects/3,141 rooms, and then Argentina with 18 projects/1,945 rooms. These five countries combined account for 68% of all the projects and rooms in Latin America’s construction pipeline.
Cities in Latin America with the largest pipelines at the close of the third quarter include Mexico City, Mexico, with 23 projects/2,582 rooms; Riviera Maya, Mexico, with 15 projects/2,016 rooms; Lima, Peru, with 13 projects/1,875 rooms; Georgetown, Guyana, with 12 projects/1,558 rooms; and Sao Paulo, Brazil, with 11 projects/2,687 rooms.
Through the close of the third quarter, 43 new hotels with 7,366 rooms have opened in Latin America. The LE forecast for the remainder of the year expects another 29 new hotels with 5,650 rooms to open. If all of the forecasted new hotel openings occur in 2023, this will mark a new record-high for hotel openings in the region. LE analysts forecast new hotel openings in Latin America to rise to 107 hotels with 16,273 rooms in 2024 and increase again in 2025 to 117 new hotels with 18,990 rooms.