Beijing ? The number of overseas visitors to Beijing dropped by more than 50 percent during the first half of this year because of the SARS outbreak, the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome emerged in southern China in November. More than half of the mainland’s 5,327 infections and 349 deaths were in Beijing, which in June was the last city to be removed from a World Health Organization list of places where nonessential visits were discouraged.