By APD writer Alice

South Korea's tourism industry is forecast to be hard hit by the outbreak of new coronavirus in Wuhan as locals cancel their overseas trips and visitors from China are set to decline sharply.

South Korea has so far reported four confirmed cases of the new strain of the virus, which killed over 130 people in China as of January 29.

South Korea's foreign ministry already raised the travel advisory level for the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus outbreak, and its surrounding Hubei province, recommending Korean nationals go back from the affected areas following the spread of the deadly virus.

According to HanaTour, South Korea's largest travel agency, the rate of China trip cancellations increased by 20 percent compared with a year earlier. In particular, the cancellation rate on Chinese travel in March increased by 40 percent compared with a year ago.

As a growing number of people shelve their trips, local airlines like Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. recently decided to waive cancellation fees on flights to China.

China recently announced it banned outbound group tours to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Observers said the novel coronavirus could impact South Korea’s tourism industry for at least two months like the past cases of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015.

In other development, South Korea announced it will offer $5 million in emergency assistance to China to help the country combat the deadly new coronavirus.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)