Canada’s hotel construction ended 2020 with volumes just 11 percent lower than in 2019—this, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

In their latest quarterly report for the country, analysts Lodging Econometrics show that the hotel construction pipeline in Canada ended 2020 with 270 projects—just 35 fewer than the peak of 305 projects reached at the end of 2019.

Across the country, there are now 83 projects with a total of 9,836 rooms under construction. Scheduled to start in the next 12 months are an additional 87 projects (with approximately 10,100 room), while those in the early planning stages total 100 (and 14,700 rooms). Those last two figures are up by 12 percent and 4 percent respectively compared with the fourth quarter of 2019.

New project announcements reached their highest levels in the fourth quarter with 20 projects/1,882 rooms.

Ontario continues to be the driver of hotel construction in Canada. The province’s pipeline includes 147 projects (and 18,179 rooms), and accounts for 54 percent of the projects and 52 percent of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline.

British Columbia follows with 44 projects/6,126 rooms, then Alberta with 26 projects/4,153 rooms, and Quebec with 25 projects/3,267 rooms.

Unsurprisingly, Toronto is Canada’s busiest city for hotel construction. The GTA counts 60 projects and 8,498 rooms. Montreal follows distantly with 15 projects/2,180 rooms, Vancouver with 12 projects/1,652 room, Niagara Falls with 11 projects/1,768 rooms, and Ottawa with 9 projects/1,456 rooms. Those five cities combined account for 40 percent of the projects and 45 percent of the rooms in Canada’s total pipeline.