A think tank predicts that South Korea will see a drop in the number of foreign tourists this year due to an earlier outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
   
The Korea Culture and Tourism Institute said in a report Tuesday that the number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea will fall by between four-point-six and nine-point-six percent this year compared to last year.

It forecast that tourism revenue will decrease from last year by between 880 billion and one-point-nine trillion won, or between 780 million and one-point-six billion U.S. dollars.
    
The institute explained that it came up with the estimates based on damage incurred by Hong Kong during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, outbreak and by Japan following a massive earthquake in 2011.