MERS打擊韓國經濟 旅遊零售業遭重挫

SEOUL, South Korea — In the past month, Kim Yon-hwa, a sales clerk in Myeongdong, a popular shopping district in Seoul, has witnessed a drastic change reflecting the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome: The street outside her cosmetics shop, once teeming with foreign tourists, is nearly empty.

韓國首爾——過去一個月，明洞售貨員金蓮花（Kim Yon-hwa，音）目睹了反映中東呼吸綜合徵（Middle East respiratory syndrome，簡稱MERS）疫情的一個巨大變化：她的化妝品店外的街道曾經擠滿了外國遊客，現在卻幾乎空無一人。明洞是首爾備受歡迎的一個購物區。

“You can’t see any foreigners outside, can you?” she said, glancing at the street. “The situation is not just serious; as far as we are concerned, it’s a crisis.”

“外面根本看不到任何外國人，對吧？”她朝街上看了一眼，說道。“情況已經不只是嚴重了；在我們看來，這是一場危機。”

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Since the first case of the infectious disease, known as MERS, was discovered in South Korea on May 20, the outbreak has scared away enough tourists and domestic consumers for the government to worry about its effect on the economy.

自5月20日在韓國發現具有傳染性的MERS的第一個病例以來，它已經嚇走了大量遊客和國內消費者，政府開始擔心它對經濟造成的影響。

Although health officials said the outbreak was subsiding, government policy makers who fear a much longer effect said on Monday that they were considering a spending increase to help stimulate the economy.

儘管衛生官員表示疫情正在減弱，但是擔心疫情會造成更長久影響的政府決策者週一表示，他們正在考慮通過增加開支的做法來刺激經濟。

In the past few days, two state-financed research organizations forecast that the economic growth rate in 2015 would slow to a range of 2.8 percent to 2.9 percent, down from 3.3 percent last year. They cited the MERS outbreak as a burden on the economy, which had already shown more serious signs of slowing down, like weak domestic demand and declining exports.

過去幾天，兩個由國家資助的研究機構預測稱，2015年的經濟增長率將從去年的3.3%降至2.8%–2.9%。他們認爲MERS疫情給經濟造成了負擔——經濟已經出現了更嚴重的放緩跡象，比如內需不足和出口減少。

As South Koreans avoided crowds for fear of infection, shopping malls, theme parks, baseball stadiums and even subways and charter bus services all reported a sharp drop in users. Many people avoided seeing doctors, as the virus spread through hospitals.

由於擔心被傳染，韓國人在儘量避開人羣。大型商場、主題公園、棒球場，甚至地鐵和公共汽車都表示消費者或使用者人數大量減少。許多人都不願意看醫生，因爲這種病毒就是通過醫院傳播的。

The disease also turned off what used to be a fast-growing inflow of foreign tourists, mainly from China. More than 124,000 tourists, most of them from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, have canceled trips to South Korea this month, an estimated drop of 24 percent from last year, according to government data.

MERS還促使原本增長迅速的外國遊客人數出現驟降，這些遊客主要來自中國。政府數據顯示，本月共有逾12.4萬名遊客——其中大多來自中國大陸、臺灣和香港——取消了他們的韓國行程，預計同比降低24%。

The influx of Chinese-speaking tourists had been a bright spot for South Korea’s slowing economy.

講中文的遊客的涌入，過去一直是放緩的韓國經濟的一個亮點。

In Myeongdong, sales clerks used to shout in Chinese into a human river of tourists that filled up the alleyways.

在明洞，售貨員曾用中文向擠滿窄窄街道的遊客吆喝。

That changed when the virus hit South Korea in May, leading Hong Kong to advise residents to refrain from visiting South Korea.

5月，當韓國受到MERS攻擊時，一切都發生了變化。香港甚至告誡居民不要前往韓國。

Before the outbreak, buses loaded with Chinese tourists clogged the streets around duty-free shops in Seoul. Now they are all gone. The virus has also been bad news for plastic surgery clinics in the Gangnam district of Seoul, which have been profiting from Chinese women arriving for face-lifts.

疫情爆發前，首爾免稅店周邊的街道通通被滿載中國遊客的巴士阻塞。現在，它們都不見了。對於首爾江南區的整形外科診所，MERS也是個壞消息。這些診所一直在靠來整形的中國女性盈利。

The outbreak “has already had a significant impact on the economy,” the minister of strategy and finance, Choi Kyung-hwan, told Parliament on Monday, adding that the government was considering a supplementary budget to help stimulate domestic demand dampened by the MERS scare.

此次疫情“已經對經濟造成了嚴重影響”，企劃財政部部長崔炅煥(Choi Kyung-hwan)週一對議會表示。他還說，政府正在考慮一項補充預算，以刺激因爲MERS引起的恐慌而受到抑制的國內需求。

The central Bank of Korea, which had earlier cut its benchmark interest rate to a historic low, said last week that it would provide 650 billion won, or $590 million, in funding to small and midsize enterprises affected by the outbreak.

早些時候把基準利率降到歷史最低點的韓國央行上週表示，將提供6500億韓元（約合36.5億元人民幣）資助受疫情影響的中小型企業。

“You should not take the umbrella away while it’s raining,” Yim Jong-yong, chairman of the government’s Financial Services Commission, told a meeting of domestic bank leaders on Monday, urging them to extend help to retailers and other small companies worst hit by MERS.

週一，韓國政府財政服務委員會(Financial Services Commission)主席任鍾龍(Yim Jong-yong)告訴一些國內銀行領導人，“你們不能在下雨的時候把雨傘撤走。”他敦促他們針對受MERS影響最嚴重的零售商和其他小型企業提供更多的幫助。

With 172 people infected, including 27 deaths, the MERS outbreak in South Korea is the largest outside Saudi Arabia, where the disease first emerged in 2012. South Korean health officials said that the outbreak appeared to be coming under control, with the number of new cases decreasing.

韓國共有172人受到感染，其中死亡27人。除沙特阿拉伯以外，韓國是MERS疫情最嚴重的地方。2012年，MERS首次在沙特阿拉伯出現。韓國衛生官員表示，疫情似乎已逐漸得到控制，新增病例的數量在減少。

In an attempt to lure back foreign tourists, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has offered a free insurance service for foreign visitors that would cover all MERS-related medical and other costs. But businessmen feared that the effect of the virus on domestic consumption and tourism would persist.

爲了重新吸引外國遊客，韓國文化體育觀光部(The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)爲外國遊客提供了免費的保險服務。這些保險將囊括所有與MERS相關的醫療費和其他費用。但是，從商者擔心MERS對國內消費和旅遊業的影響將會持續。

“It’s fortunate that MERS is slowly subsiding,” Park Yong-maan, the chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said on Monday. “But the economic sentiment remains constricted.”

“很幸運，MERS的勢頭在慢慢減弱，”韓國工業商會(Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry)會長樸容晚(Park Yong-maan)週一表示。“但是經濟氛圍仍然處於壓抑狀態。”