Hajj and Umrah businesses in the two Saudi holy cities of Makkah and Madinah have suffered financial losses of approximately $240m as a result of swine flu fears, according to Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat. The owner of Amjad Al-Salam Hotel in Madinah, Ali Jaballah has said that more than 300 hotels in the central area of the holy city have incurred losses of more than SR400m when their occupancy fell below 10% during Ramadan.