The prices of hotels in the Holy city of Mecca climbed 31% year-on-year during the month of Ramadan 2010, hotel price comparison search engine HotelsCombined.com said. Despite the higher average night rate for Ramadan, pilgrims did not cut their travels short, but rather extended their travels this year by 7 nights on average, up from 5 nights in 2009, with early indications of a possible record increase in the number of pilgrims during this year’s Hajj season. “Early indications suggest hotel prices for Hajj 2010, the annual Muslim pilgrimage, will be triple that of Ramadan 2010 for independent travellers, signifying hoteliers are expecting record numbers of pilgrims to flock to the city on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast,” the firm said.