The Caribbean/Mexico hotel development pipeline includes almost 22,000 rooms and 128 new hotel/resorts, according to a report just out from STR Global, which may be hard for Bermuda Tourism to digest.The total active pipeline includes projects in construction or advanced planning stages. It does not include projects in the preplanning stage.Leading the way is the Bahamas, which has five projects with nearly 2,300 rooms in the pipeline — including Baha Mar, the $3.5-billion, 2,200-room property scheduled to open in December 2014. The Dominican Republic has 10 projects with 2,600 rooms under construction.The level of the construction pipeline bodes well for the individual economies of the approximately 25 countries located in the Caribbean, experts said.STR said the largest concentration of rooms was in the luxury segment, with around 6,901 rooms in the active pipeline, followed by the upscale segment, which includes about 22.1 percent, or 4,835 rooms.STR’s data covered the pipeline through the end of May.Three other segments each accounted for more than 15 percent of rooms in the active pipeline: the Upscale segment (22.1 percent with 4,835 rooms); the Unaffiliated segment (18.4 percent with 4,029 rooms); and the Upper Midscale segment (16.7 percent with 3,658 rooms).Bermuda, where tourism continues to decline, has no new properties in construction.The planned $70 million refurbishment of the Fairmont Hamilton Princess does not include any additional rooms.Bermuda air arrivals dropped to 232,063 last year, the lowest level in four years. Overall visitor arrivals for the first three months of 2013 were down almost four percent on the year before.At a recent Caribbean investment summit, where panellists declared the worst was over for the Caribbean hotel industry, Alejandro Zozaya-Gorostiza, CEO of Apple Leisure Group, says the Caribbean stands to gain as more travellers are travelling internationally from the US for the first time while there is an emerging middle class in South America.He also said it’s clear consumers want new things and value-perceived experiences.He said consumers are travelling more times for fewer days at a time and are embracing the concept.“Our company calls it unlimited luxury, not all-inclusive,” he said.Warren Jestin, senior VP and chief economist for Scotiabank, said the driving force for hotel development in the region was the growing US economy and was critical to catch the cycle.Amanda Hite, president of HotelNewsNow.com parent company STR, said the region’s performance data has improved across the board. Occupancy rose 4.2 percent to 75.9 percent; average daily rate increased 9.7 percent to $223.47; RevPAR jumped 14.4 percent to $169.64; and room revenue climbed 14 percent to $3.4 billion.David Scowsill, president and CEO of the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council, said there could be some headwinds for the region though.“Governments must stop seeing travellers and tourists as a soft target for taxation,” he said, adding the taxes that are collected should stimulate growth rather than hinder it.Another big issue is a lack of reliable, consistent air service, according to Scowsill.