But the industry remains resolutely optimistic that it can put revolution behind it and build on the area’s historic and religious sites, its world-class shopping, facilities and growing wealth.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts, whose hotels include the St. Regis and Sheraton brands, captures the difficult present and the promising future. Last week, the company said its first-quarter earnings fell in part due to unrest in the Middle East.

But on Monday, the US-based company spoke about an ambitious plan to open 41 more hotels in the region over the next two to three years.

“We will consolidate and build on our presence in Saudi Arabia, for instance; in markets like Morocco, Tunisia and Algiers. Also in the Gulf. We will grow in Oman, in Jordan. We will grow in Bahrain once things settle down. Also, in the UAE there is room for growth in the other emirates as well as Dubai itself,” Neil George, Starwoods’ vice president for development in the region, said in an interview with Breaking Travel News.

That is a strong vote of confidence in the future.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Euromonitor International said in separate reports released this week that the industry will be seeing a turnaround starting in 2012.

While recovery for the region as a whole will be modest, countries enjoying political stability and the capital to invest in travel infrastructure will enjoy much higher rates of growth.

Saudi Arabia, which hosts millions of pilgrims arriving at Makkah every year, will see the compound annual growth rate for tourist arrivals reach 12.3 percent between 2010 and 2015, Euromonitor forecast.

Rising oil prices are increasing the purchasing power of ordinary Saudis while the company embarks on ambitious travel-infrastructure.

Indeed, Euromonitor estimates that the Kingdom will overtake Egypt as the Middle East’s No. 1 tourist destination by 2015, with 21 million visitors arriving.

The UAE and Qatar — also have strong prospects as they press ahead with plans to turn themselves into tourism magnets.

Dubai boasts the world’s tallest skyscraper, a seven-star hotel and is enhancing its role as a global air hub with the opening of Al-Maktoum Airport, with a capacity for 160 million passengers.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi, is developing several world-class cultural attractions, including branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim Museums. Last year, it opened a Formula 1 theme park with the world’s fastest roller coaster.

Qatar is banking on its hosting the 2022 World Cup to spur tourism.

All told, Euromonitor predicts that the UAE will enjoy growth of 6.9 percent annual through 2015.

“While there will be uncertainty in the short to medium term, the fundamentals for travel and tourism growth in the Middle East region are strong and will prevail to assure long-term sustainability of the market,” said Alex Kyriakidis, Deloitte’s global managing director for travel, hospitality and leisure.

Even countries now suffering unrest are likely to see growing tourism, although not until the dust clears from the Arab Spring. Hilton Worldwide, which manages 16 hotels in Egypt, said there was unlikely to be a full recovery in the country before the first quarter of 2012.

On the other hand, its Egyptian Red Sea resorts are already recovering and enjoying high occupancy rates of 60 percent, Rudi Jagersbacher, its president for the Middle East and Africa, told Dubai newspaper The National.

Iraq, recovering from war and still face frequent bombings and other violence, is trying to entice visitors.

At the Arabian Travel Market, an industry conference and exhibition taking place this week in Dubai, the Iraq Tourism Board and the Rafidain Company for Travel & Tourism have 100 square meters of exhibition space.

The country recorded some 1.3 million visitor arrivals during 2009. Although pilgrims from Iran accounted for three quarters of these, the sector is diversifying.

Regional airlines Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, FlyDubai and Gulf Air all operate flights as do Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa and other European carriers.

Abu Dhabi-based Rotana hotel group opened a five-star property in Erbil, Iraq’s fourth-largest city, last December and is working to ready the Rotana Baghdad for early 2012. Around 20 four- and five-star hotels are under construction in Erbil while the government says it spent $300 million to renovate six major Baghdad hotels.

In Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, some $6 billion in hotel projects are in development.

Indeed, Euromonitor is concerned about a glut as supply outpaces demand.