North Korea will resume international tourism this winter, ending a travel ban in place as a result of the COVID pandemic, in accordance with tour operators organizing trips to the country.
Travel firms CT-G And Koryo Toursorganizing trips to North Korea said on Wednesday that their partners within the country had informed them of presidency plans to permit travel to some locations.
According to the businesses, travel to the North Korean city of Samjiyon will likely be allowed again from December, and other areas of the country could potentially be opened to travel as well.
“After waiting for this announcement for over four years, Koryo Tours is very pleased to see North Korean tourism reopen,” said Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based tour operator, in a opinion on its website.
North Korea has been largely closed to foreign tourists since 2020, although some international flights in and in another country resumed last yr. A small Russian group According to reports visited North Korea in February.
The country has been preparing for a more comprehensive reopening for a while.
According to Koryo Tours, North Korea has been working for years to develop and construct tourist facilities in Samjiyon, a mountain town near the Chinese border.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who visited town last month, praised it as “a model of a highly civilized mountain town,” with new hotels, attractions and a ski resort, according to North Korean state media.
Another important Tourism website is being built on the east coast of the country.
These efforts could help North Korea recover economically from the devastating effects of the global pandemic.
According to the Koryo Tours website, introductory tours to North Korea typically cost between 600 and 1,500 euros per person, depending on factors such as departure location, duration, group size and accommodation.
The only nationalities prohibited from traveling to North Korea as tourists are citizens of the Republic of Korea.
The US government has now strongly advised against travelling to the country“US passports will not be valid for travel to, in, or through North Korea unless specifically validated by the Department of State.”
It is likely that the opening of Samjiyon is aimed at attracting Chinese travelers, who made up the majority of international tourists visiting North Korea before the pandemic.
In 2019 Record of 350,000 Chinese Tourists visited North Korea, representing an enormous source of income for Pyongyang, reports NK News, a US website that gives evaluation on the country.
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