South Korea's top central banker on Wednesday raised worries that the local tourism industry is unlikely to recover quickly from the impact of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, a setback that may hamper growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
  

"The decline in foreign tourists was seen as one of the biggest factors that have lowered second-quarter GDP," Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said in a regular meeting with economists and economics professors, noting that overseas tourists account for roughly 1 percent of the country's overall gross domestic product (GDP).
  

"The July-August period is a peak season for tourism, but it seems that the fall in the number of tourists will unlikely rise in earnest. This may lower overall GDP growth by 0.1 percentage point annually," said Lee.

The governor's comments come after the government and a handful of private-sector institutions have lowered their growth estimates for this year, citing the impact of the respiratory disease that has claimed more than 30 lives in South Korea since late May.
  

Earlier this month, the central bank cut its growth forecast to 2.8 percent from 3.1 percent. The finance ministry also chimed in by slashing its forecast to 3.1 percent from 3.8 percent, while the Korea Institute of Finance cut it to 2.8 percent from 3.7 percent.
  

Lee urged companies to encourage their employees to head to local destinations for their summer holidays to help bolster domestic demand. Business conglomerates, such as Hanwha and Lotte, have launched internal campaigns promoting local summer trips.
  

Separate data by the state-run Korea Tourism Organization showed that the number of incoming tourists plunged 41 percent on-year in June, contracting for the first time in 25 months. (Yonhap)