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North Korea plans to open its much-talked-about Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourism domain in the next 12 months. The resort is expected to open in May 2025, state media reported Thursday.
The announcement was made by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who visited the coastal site this week to learn about the progress. According to local reports, the structure is in its last stage.
Kim Jong Un’s vision for Wonsan-Kalma is grand, with resorts equipped with world-class facilities, an amusement park, a recreational activities area, an airfield, and sufficient parking for arriving tourists.
The ambitious project, which began near the eastern port city of Wonsan in 2017, was originally scheduled to be completed in mid-2018. The domain is compared to Benidorm in Spain, a lively beach resort.
It is said that the inspiration for this wonderful undertaking arose after a delegation of North Korean bureaucrats visited the Spanish Costa Blanca. However, the task faced significant obstacles. The Covid-19 pandemic and strict UN sanctions have led to delays due to shortages of structural materials. Despite those challenges, North Korea ordered the country’s structure to restart last year.
One question remains: to whom will this assignment be directed? With North Korea’s borders still closed to maximum foreign tourists, the potential market for the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourism domain is uncertain.
Earlier this year, a Vladivostok-based Russian agency, Vostok Intur, announced a vacation to North Korea, marking the first such stop by a tourist in four years. Data from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) shows that around 155 Russian tourists stopped over in North Korea between January and March this year.
Before the pandemic, China was the main source of foreign visitors to the country, representing 90% of the total tourist influx. In 2019, NK News estimated that around 350,000 Chinese tourists visited North Korea, generating around $175 million in revenue. However, with border restrictions in place, the long-term prospects remain very uncertain.
Tourism has been a major source of foreign exchange for North Korea. According to a 2021 report by 38 North, a publication of the Stimson Center, the decline of the tourism sector during the pandemic resulted in an estimated loss of more than $175 million for North Korea. the country’s finances.
In recent years, traveling to North Korea has become increasingly complicated for some nationalities. In 2019, the United States revoked visa-free access rights for foreigners who had visited North Korea since 2011.
The Biden leadership has extended the ban on the use of US passports to North Korea, a policy renewed every year since 2017 and now in effect until August 31, 2024.
Our daily global industry policy. Written by editors and analysts from all Skift brands.
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Tags: asia, monthly asia, north korea, spain, chinese tourists, spas, leaving russia, sanctions, spanish tourism, chinese tourists
Photo credit: Benidorm in Spain, a lively beach resort, is the inspiration for Kim Jong Un’s coastal resort area of Wonsan-Kalma. Emilio Sánchez/Pexels
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