Beijing agency launches North Korea tour packages on direct Pyongyang flights

A Beijing travel agency has begun recruiting tourists for direct-flight package tours to North Korea, with two departure dates set for May, as Chinese tourism to the country shows signs of a cautious and controlled resumption, a Daily NK source reported Wednesday.

The agency began soliciting customers around March 27 for five-night, six-day tours departing Beijing for Pyongyang on May 9 and May 21 via direct flight. The package is priced at approximately 9,980 Chinese yuan (about $1,370) per person and includes stops in Pyongyang, Mount Myohyang, and Chongsan Farm in Nampo.

The Pyongyang itinerary centers on visits to state symbolic sites including the Arch of Triumph, Kim Il Sung Square, and the Juche Tower, as well as tours of the Mirae Scientists Street development and the Hwasong district. Tourists are also scheduled to ride the Pyongyang Metro and attend a performance at the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace, a showcase venue for children’s performing arts. The agency noted that tourists may bring school supplies or snacks to hand directly to North Korean children during that visit.

Outside Pyongyang, the itinerary includes a visit to the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army Martyrs’ Cemetery in Hoechang county, South Pyongan province, a site commemorating Chinese soldiers killed during the Korean War; a trip to Mount Myohyang, a mountain range straddling Jagang province and North Pyongan province; and a visit to Chongsan Farm in Kangso district, Nampo, a model collective farm that has been a standard stop on North Korean tourism itineraries for decades. Accommodation is at hotels designated for foreign visitors, with meals including Pyongyang-style roast duck and Taedonggang beer.

Rail tourism lags behind as Pyongyang favors air

Despite the resumption of international passenger rail service between China and North Korea, train-based tourism has not followed. The source said that promotional posts for train tours to North Korea have appeared on the Chinese short-video platform Kuaishou and other online channels, but that checks with five international travel agencies based in Beijing and Dandong, Liaoning province, confirmed that none are currently offering or planning rail-based North Korea tours.

“International train service has resumed, but tourism through that route does not appear to have opened yet,” the source said. “North Korea tourism seems to be resuming in a limited way, centered on air travel.”

Industry observers in China’s travel sector attribute the preference to North Korea’s desire for tighter control over incoming tourists. Air travel offers a simpler entry and exit process that is easier for authorities to manage, whereas rail travel exposes tourists to a wider range of contact and observation along the route, creating a greater control burden for the North Korean side.

“People in the travel industry are saying it looks like the intention is to gauge demand and response through the higher-priced air tour packages first, while also checking management systems,” the source said. “It seems quite likely that Chinese tourism will be expanded gradually as the situation develops.”

The emergence of direct-flight tour packages is being read as a signal that North Korea-China tourism normalization is gaining momentum, while also reflecting Pyongyang’s characteristically cautious, step-by-step approach to reopening, in which minimizing outside exposure remains a priority even as economic incentives push toward greater openness.

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