By the Caribbean Journal staff

There were 16,297 rooms across 92 hotel projects in construction in the Caribbean and Mexico last month, according to hotel analytics firm STR.

That represented a 24.4 percent year-over-year increase based on the number of rooms.

STR’s August Pipeline Report showed 41,116 rooms in 234 hotel projects under contract in the region, a 47.1 percent increase over August 2016.

Under Contract data includes projects in the In Construction, Final Planning and Planning stages but does not include projects in the Unconfirmed stage, according to STR.

Mexico led the region with 11,056 rooms across 67 projects in construction, followed by Cuba at 1,374 and the Dominican Republic at 1,212 rooms in five projects.

Those were the only countries in the region with more than 1,000 rooms in construction.