Hotel owners in the holy cities of Makkah and Madina foresee a business loss of about 70 percent during this year's Haj season due to the swine flu scare and the dwindling number of pilgrims coming here. Several countries have drastically cut the number of pilgrims this year due to swine flu concerns with Tunisia altogether stopping the pilgrims this time around. There are reports that several other countries may follow Tunisia. The hotel industry was already hit in Ramadan season where occupancy was recorded as low as 70 percent with pilgrims from Turkey, Iran, Egypt and several other countries abandoning their pilgrimage plans altogether. The number of pilgrims may be reduced drastically over swine flu concerns, said Marwan Hifdi, deputy head of the Hotels and Tourism Committee in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Madina. At an emergency meeting recently, Umrah tour operators and hotel owners in Makkah and Madina expressed the fear that if the situation continues for a couple of years more they could face bankruptcy. They estimated business losses during Ramadan to the tune of a billion riyals. Hifdi said losses at hotels and stores in the central zone in Madina during Ramadan have been huge by any standards. Due to the reduced occupancy, several hotels have been forced to slash their charges drastically, Nami Al-Amri, head of Ilyas Hotels Madina, said. “A 300 riyal booking can now be had for 150 riyal,” he said.
