Asia has the most hotel pipeline in the world.

With Europe being mired in crisis and the US economy only just beginning to show signs of recovery, hotels continue to look to Asia for new projects. Craigslist portland

According to a new report, China, India, and Indonesia are driving unprecedented growth in Asia, with more than half a million new rooms under construction.

According to research firm Lodging Econometrics, China has the world's largest pipeline, with 407,721 hotel rooms under construction, accounting for slightly under three-quarters of the region's total of 557,505 hotel rooms. China has 21 of the top 25 cities in the world for hotel room growth.

The most recent study also corresponds to data from STR Global, which documented the number of hotels under construction in China.

Separate analysis from Cushman & Wakefield revealed that Asian hotel investment in 2012 reached $8 billion in the first three quarters, on course to surpass 2011's total - albeit still far short of the $12.3 billion investment recorded in 2007, before to the global financial crisis.

However, there are indicators that China's rapid expansion is slowing. According to the Lodging Econometrics analysis, Shanghai, which has the most hotel rooms in the world, has had two decades of frenetic activity - but its project growth as of the end of 2012 showed no increase over the end of the previous year. The number of hotel rooms under construction has decreased by 14%.

Indonesia is the country with the largest increase in both project and room building, which more than doubled last year, albeit from a low base. This aligns with a trend among private equity and real estate developers to reallocate some of their emerging-market risk from China to the Southeast Asian nation.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is the most active developer in China, with 89 projects in the works, totaling 28,981 rooms. The world's largest hotel firm concentrates on high-end brands like Sheraton, Westin, and W Hotels.

Hilton Worldwide isn't far behind, with 85 projects under construction - and its average size is greater, with 29,220 rooms under the Hilton and Doubletree brands.

Accor, a French hotel group, has 85 projects in China under construction, totaling 21,553 rooms for its upmarket Pullman Hotels and budget Ibis brands.

According to the survey, the number of projects in China is expanding faster than the number of rooms, indicating that smaller, midscale hotel brands are growing the fastest as chains aim to appeal to the country's burgeoning middle class.

Despite the fact that China's economic growth slowed last year and has continued to dip in 2013, the government's response to any economic slowdown has been to liberalize bank lending and promote infrastructure development, initiatives that have contributed to nearly three decades of nonstop growth.

China's economy continues to develop at the highest rate among major economies around the world. However, following poor first-quarter GDP figures, experts have lowered their 2013 forecasts. For example, Nomura now forecasts 7.5 percent growth this year and next, down from 7.8 percent in 2012.

The Philippines, with a growth rate of 6.4 percent in 2013, and Indonesia, with a growth rate of 6.1 percent, are the next fastest growing economies in the region. According to Nomura, Indonesia's economic growth will continue into 2014, reaching 6.2 percent, second only to India's 6.6 percent, while the Philippines will rise at 5.8 percent.

According to the Cushman research, these figures make Southeast Asia the fastest growing region in Asia in terms of international arrivals, with a 15% rise in 2012 over the previous year. South Asia as a whole witnessed solid increases in visitors, with smaller areas like Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, and Yangong, Myanmar's largest city, garnering recent interest from hotel chains.