MERS outbreak caused 40% decline in foreign visitors

The number of foreign visitors plummeted by over 40 percent last month due largely to the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak, data showed Tuesday.

According to the state-run Korea Tourism Organization, about 760,000 foreign tourists visited the country in June, down by 41 percent on-year.

By nationality, the number Chinese dropped by 45 percent to some 310,000 and Japanese by 41.5 percent to about 100,000. China and Japan make up the largest share of visitors.  

About 30,000 Philippine and 16,000 Thai visitors traveled to Korea, falling by 31 percent and 43 percent, respectively. The number of Americans decreased by 16.5 percent to about 63,000.

The total number of overseas visitors this year to date has consequently reached 6.7 million, inching up just 0.8 percent compared to last year.

Before the contagious disease hit the country, more than 5.9 million visited South Korea from January to May, showing a 10.7 percent rise over last year.

“Foreign travelers apparently avoided traveling Korea because of MERS. If the current pace continues, it will be difficult to reach the initial aim of attracting 16.2 million foreign visitors,” the KTO said. 

Meanwhile, MERS did not affect the outbound number, the state-run body said.

Over 1.3 million from Korea left for trips abroad last month, up 8.1 percent on-year. This has led to more than 9 million Koreans traveling out of the country in the first half of this year, jumping by 20 percent on-year.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)