South Korea tourism takes hit over MERS fears
Tourist arrivals in South Korea have taken a plunge as the deadly MERS disease continues to spread fears among travelers to the country.
The number of foreign visitors to South Korea dropped more than 40 percent in June year on year, according to official figures released on Tuesday.
Just over 750,000 foreigners arrived in South Korea in June, compared to the more than 1.2 million in the same month just last year, the state-run Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) announced.
Officials warned that the cost in lost revenues could be close to $10 billion.
The year 2015 initially started off well for the tourism sector in the Asian country, with the number of overseas arrivals in the first five months going up 10.7 percent compared to the same period in 2014. But May 20 saw the reporting of the first MERS case in the country. An outbreak of the deadly disease ensued, claiming 36 lives and triggering widespread panic at home and the mass cancellation of tours to the country.
“Because of the MERS outbreak, foreign tourists, including those from China, shunned visiting this country last month,” a KTO spokesman said. The official added that if nothing is done to persuade tourists to come to South Korea, the 2015 target of 16.2 million tourists would be in serious jeopardy.
The number of tourists from mainland Chinese – the biggest spending visitors – was down 45 percent, while arrivals from Taiwan and Hong Kong were down 76 percent and 75 percent respectively.
The South Korean government has announced a number of measures to re-boot tourism, including waiving visa fees for group travelers from China and Southeast Asia.
MERS stands for the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome and is a cousin of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The former causes coughing, fever, pneumonia and kidney failure, but it does not appear to be as contagious as SARS, which killed some 800 people in a 2003 epidemic.
The vast majority of MERS infections and deaths have been reported in Saudi Arabia, where more than 950 people have been infected and 412 died from the illness.
There is no vaccine for MERS, which has an overall mortality rate of 35 percent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
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