Tourism in North Korea business as usual despite threats of nuclear war
The rhetoric from North Korea is fearsome these days, but for tourism it’s business as usual. So says Nick Bonner of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, a North Korea travel specialist: “A few [clients] have asked us to cancel, but most are going in.”
The 20-year-old Koryo Tours takes some 2,000 travelers to North Korea each year, accounting for about 40 percent of western visitors there. Bonner, Koryo’s founder, and Amanda Carr, independent tour specialist, shared their experience.
Has this level of tension occurred before? “Since the establishment of our company we have experienced similar times of high tension, particularly in 1993 and 2003-2004,” Bonner says, but never have tours been interrupted. “We take advice from the U.K. Embassy in Pyongyang, our own experience and our Korean colleagues who are also very responsible.”
So who visits North Korea? U.S. citizens make up the largest share (27 percent) of Koryo’s business, followed by Britons. It’s a mix of groups and private tourists, mostly from western countries. Bonner estimates that each year an additional 10,000 Chinese tourists visit North Korea.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2013/04/16/despite-tensions-travel-to-north-korea-continues/
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