Moscow sees 5-fold increase in demand for N.Korea tours since start of 2024 - industry union

MOSCOW. July 22 (Interfax) - The demand for tours to North Korea in Moscow has increased considerably in the past 18 months, though the launch of a Nordwind flight from Moscow to Pyongyang is unlikely to increase tourist numbers, the Russian Union of Travel Industry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"On July 27 the Nordwind airline company is launching its first flight from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport to Pyongyang, there is no information yet on subsequent flights. Airfares start from 44,700 rubles. Some changes in the flight program are possible because in early July Rosaviatsia [Federal Air Transport Agency] issued Nordwind with permission to fly to North Korea, from Moscow to Pyongyang, twice weekly. The monthly flight frequency on its own is unlikely to affect the tourist flow," the statement said. "Obviously this flight is meant for business travel and other purposes, not for tourists," it said.

As in the case of the train link opened to North Korea on June 17, traveling by air to the country is only possible in organized form, i.e. through a tour operator, it said.

"A tourist should apply to a Russian tour operator accredited in North Korea, submit visa documents at least one month before traveling to undergo necessary approval. This is a closed country, so the question of entry should be approached seriously. At present, Russian tourists can fly to North Korea only from Vladivostok to Pyongyang with the North Korean airline company Air Koryo, three times a week," the statement said.

Interest in the destination is growing, tour operators said. Vostok Intur has seen the demand for North Korea tours grow fivefold at its Moscow office and triple companywide in the past 18 months, the company's Moscow director Irina Kobeleva, a member of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, said.

"We have been carrying Russian tourists to North Korea using various [transport] modes for a year and a half now. One mode is to fly to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, from Vladivostok. The second is a land tour which passes through the North Korean zones bordering Vladivostok, covering the country's eastern coast. Currently, direct Pyongyang flights are from Vladivostok only. We are glad that Moscow will be added soon," Kobeleva said.

A new resort, Wonsan-Kalma, on the Sea of Japan coast, 160 kilometers from Pyongyang, has a high potential for Russian tourists, she said. It has five-kilometer-long beaches and a capacity of 100,000 tourists. The swimming season here is from mid-June till mid-September.

In January-May 2025, the number of Russian tourists traveling to North Korea via Russia's Primorsky Territory almost doubled compared with 2024, to almost 700, according to data from the Primorsky Territory administration. Around 70% of tourists travel from elsewhere in Russia¸ Vostok Intur said.