London ? Department stores and other retailers in central London have lost an estimated $1.4 billion in sales, and hotels, restaurants and other businesses also report mounting financial losses because of terrorist attacks last month.

Retail sales in central London dropped nine percent in July compared with the same period last year, according to statistics reported by the British Retail Consortium. “The bombings had a huge effect,” said Dee Crooks, a spokeswoman for the trade group.

Crooks said shoppers have stayed away from downtown stores after the attacks, compounding already lagging sales.

The July 7 subway and bus bombings, which killed 52 people along with four bombers and injured 700, followed by failed attacks on subway trains and a bus July 21, led to serious disruptions of the public transportation system.

Tourism officials said their industry has been adversely affected but that it would be months before they knew the full impact of the bombings. Elliott Frisby, a spokesman for VisitBritain, the government tourism agency, said the economic toll had reached into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Business has been better,” said Mark Osborne, commercial manager of the Big Bus Co., a tour bus operator that carries about 1 million people a year. He said his business declined by about 20 percent in July.

Osborne said, by comparison, the financial impact on his company was far worse after the 9-11 attacks, which severely hurt airlines and tourism worldwide.