PROVIDENCE, R.I.--Jun. 27--Rhode Island is on the threshold of a hotel building boom.

Several different proposals totaling tens of millions of dollars may bring hundreds more hotel rooms to the Providence and Warwick areas.

Credit the improving New England economy, the dramatic growth in air traffic at T.F. Green Airport, and recent efforts to promote the state, said Mark Cestari, president of the Providence-Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"It's wonderful to see the turnaround in the last 24 months, in the overall tourism climate and the business climate," he said.

Demand is so high, Cestari said, that some Providence convention-goers ...