The trip, published by Russia’s state news agency Tass and promoted this week by a Russian travel agency, highlights cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. On the website of the travel agency Vostok Intur it is written that Thursday’s trip starts on February 9.
An unspecified number of tourists will fly from Russia’s Far Eastern region Primorje first to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, where they will visit the memorials. They will then continue to Masik Pass on North Korea’s east coast, where the country’s most modern ski resort is located, Tass said.
“At the Masik Pass you will find yourself in a true paradise for winter sports lovers!”, reads the travel agency’s announcement. “Here you will find slopes of varying difficulty that will appeal to both expert and novice skiers.” According to Tassi, the trip was organized on the basis of an agreement between the governor of the Primorje Region Oleg Kozhemjako and the North Korean authorities. According to Tassi and the travel agency, the trip costs $750 per person.
Kozhemjako traveled to Pyongyang in December to discuss strengthening economic ties after the Kim-Putin summit. Before the trip, he told Russian media that he intended to discuss cooperation in the fields of tourism, agriculture and trade.
The country is waiting for the Chinese
North Korea is easing restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic to revive its economy, which has been devastated by persistent sanctions imposed by the United States, among others. In August, South Korea’s intelligence services announced that North Korea’s economy shrank every year from 2020 to 2022, with GDP 12% lower than in 2016.
The resumption of Chinese travel will likely be a much larger source of revenue, as Chinese made up about 90% of all international tourists to North Korea before the pandemic. In 2019, a record number of foreign tourists visited North Korea, around 300,000, from which North Korea earned, according to experts, between $90 and $150 million.
“Visitors from Russia are unlikely to be as financially profitable for North Korea as returning more visitors from China,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University.
Comment Read comments (16)
2024-01-15 16:19:00
north-korea-reopens-the-country-to-foreign-tourists-russians-are-the-first-to-be-accepted