Travel agents have reported a surge of interest from across the country in recent weeks on the back of an already strong peak tourism season, Reuters reported.
Tourism from the Chinese border in Dandong into North Korea is seeing an uplift amid cautious optimism as North Korea proclaims it is shifting national focus to economic development from nuclear arms.
Dandong, a Chinese trading hub, was hit hard by United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang.
Travel agents have reported a surge of interest from across the country in recent weeks on the back of an already strong peak tourism season, Reuters reported.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s economic reform plans and warming ties between Pyongyang and its main backers in Beijing had prompted the increased activity, agents said.
The April dip in visitors after a tour bus crash killed 32 Chinese nationals proved a mere blip. Half-day and one-day tours to the neighbouring North Korean city of Sinuiju now book out within an hour of tickets being released, travel agents in Dandong say.
Four-day tours, with stops at the capital Pyongyang and the Panmunjom truce village, are fully booked through to the end of August, despite increased capacity through more frequent trains and coaches.
Tourism is one of the few remaining reliable sources of foreign income for North Korea, after the U.N. imposed sanctions targeting 90% of its US$3 billion annual exports including commodities, textiles and seafood.
China has not provided a breakdown of the number of tourists traveling to North Korea since 2013.
The Korea Maritime Institute, a South Korean think-tank, estimates tourism generates US$44 million a year for the isolated country, with Chinese tourists making up about 80% of all foreign visitors to the North.