The number of foreign tourists to South Korea is expected to flirt with 20 million in 2019 on the strength of a sharp rise in Chinese visitors, the state tourism agency said Sunday.

Despite an expected drop this year due to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, the number is project to surge 14.6 percent on-year in 2016 and grow at an annual average rate of over 7 percent for the next three years to reach 19.35 million in 2019, according to the Korea Tourism Organization.

During the cited period, the number of Chinese visitors to South Korea is projected to expand at an annual average rate of more than 10 percent.

Since exceeding the 1 million mark in 2007, the number of Chinese tourists had been on a steady increase before spiking more than 40 percent on-year in 2013 and 2014.

But the MERS outbreak made a big dent in the number of Chinese visitors to South Korea this year, with the figure forecast to drop 6.3 percent on-year.

First confirmed in late May, MERS has claimed 36 lives and infected 186 people. No new cases have been reported since July 4, with the last person to have contracted the illness testing negative for the virus early this month.

The MERS outbreak prompted foreign tourists, especially Chinese, to cancel their visits to South Korea in droves, pounding the local tourism and retail sectors.

The agency also said the number of Japanese visitors, which is expected to sink 19.2 percent on-year in 2015 due to MERS, will likely recover next year and reach 2.2 million in 2019.

Considerably more visitors from Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam are expected starting in 2016 thanks to the high popularity of South Korean pop culture in those countries, the KTO said. (Yonhap)