North Korea is allowing foreign tourists for the first time since closing its borders in January 2020 due to the Covid epidemic, with only a few tour companies slated to take visitors into the country’s Rason Special Economic Zone this week.
Rowan Beard, the Australian tour manager, was among the first to return.
In an interview, Mr Beard described his arrival at North Korean immigration with surprise and delight.
He was part of a small delegation of travel operators invited to assess conditions in Rason ahead of its reopening to tourists on 20 February.
North Korea, largely sealed off since the pandemic began, is taking cautious steps to revive tourism.
Before the pandemic, Chinese visitors accounted for about 90 per cent of all foreign arrivals, with 350,000 entering in 2019 alone, reported The Straits Times.
The resumption of tours comes amid a thaw in Pyongyang’s relations with Beijing.
A Chinese travel agency confirmed on 18 February that it had received approval to restart trips and was accepting bookings for a group scheduled to visit Rason on 24 February.
Mr Beard said demand for the first tours was overwhelming.
The clientele for North Korean tours is typically drawn from Australia, Canada and Europe, with some visitors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
South Koreans are still restricted from entering, and the United States has prohibited its nationals from traveling to North Korea since 2017, following the arrest and subsequent death of American student Otto Warmbier.
While North Korea wants to encourage tourism, several limitations remain in place.
Local markets, which were formerly popular among foreign visitors, are now closed due to ongoing concerns about Covid.
Strict health precautions, such as mask wearing and temperature checks, remain in place in some sites.
