It's not like North Korea tops any "top vacation destinations" lists, but tour companies on Wednesday were still excitedly touting the latest news out of the secluded nation: After nearly five years of even further isolation brought by COVID, the North will open its borders again to foreign tourists. "We have received confirmation from our local partner that tourism to Samjiyon and likely the rest of the country will officially resume in December 2024," Koryo Tours, based in Beijing, announced on its website, per Reuters.
Another company, KTG Tours, made a similar announcement about Samjiyon—a mountainous town known for its winter activities, and where the country says a "socialist utopia" is being built—on its own site. Per the BBC, that agency wrote on its Facebook page that "we think that Pyongyang and other places will open too!!!"
NK News notes that most of the North's prepandemic tourists came out of China, though visitors also included "several thousand Westerners" annually. The nation shut its borders once COVID hit, and it only recently started allowing Russian tourists in earlier this year, thanks to warming relations between Pyongyang and Moscow. Chad O'Carroll, who heads up the US-based analysis firm Korea Risk Group, is wary of the news. "I will believe it when I see it," he tells the BBC. "For now, I am quite skeptical we will see any real movement in December." (More North Korea stories.)
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