First came the war... now a virus!

The mysterious respiratory condition that has already killed five dozen people and spread feSARS from Asia all the way to North America couldn’t pick a worse timing for the increasingly brittle world economy, especially the tourist industry.

Experts believe the Atypical Respiratory Syndrome (SSARS), now wreaking damaging havoc with tourism and enterprises, has emptied scores of restaurants from Hong Kong to Singapore and will definitely make a cleaving dent in the world’s economic perspectives.

Some have grown to believe this rare disease could set off a global recession, though others think it’s too soon to determine what side effects it might have. One thing is certain as far as SARS is concerned: it has taken a deadly toll of 100 lives and infected over 2,600 people.

Reckoned in economic figures, the ailment has hit the least adequate region. In the face of the ongoing economic shakiness in Europe and the U.S., Asia is by far the weakest region in the world right now.

For the time being, airlines are bearing the heaviest negative brunt at a moment when they haven’t snapped back completely from the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the ongoing war in Iraq.

The sector’s companies have curtailed their flights to Asian and some analysts the aviation industry could come completely unglued if the SARS outbreak gets even worse. As long as this situation goes on, would-be business travelers will resort to e-mails and VCRs rather than getting on a plane.

According to poll results made public Monday by the Business Travel Corp., an industry group based in the United States that oversees business travel, around 58 percent of 144 big U.S. companies have banned their staffs from flying to certain Asian locations, 34 percentage points more than last week’s poll.

The new respiratory disease has curbed tourism toward one of the world’s most luring regions. Depending on the country, tourism accounts for 4 to 8 percent of the Asian nations’ GNP, ruling out Japan. In China, the leisure sector stands for roughly 4 percent of the nation’s GNP.