Tourism in North Korea is tightly controlled by the North Korean government. All tourism is organized by several state-owned tourism bureaus, including Korea International Travel Company (KITC, 조선국제려행사), Korean International Sports Travel Company (KISTC,조선국제체육려행사), Korean International Taekwondo Tourism Company (KITTC,조선국제태권도려행사) and Korean International Youth Travel Company (KIYTC,조선청년국제려행사). The majority of tourists are Chinese nationals: one 2019 estimate indicated that up to 120,000 Chinese tourists had visited North Korea in the previous year, compared to fewer than 5,000 from Western countries.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea, North Korea closed its borders to foreign tourists on 22 January 2020. As of April 2021, the resulting economic losses were estimated to be at least US$175 million. In January 2024, it was announced that a group of Russian tourists would be allowed into the country, the first tourists since the border closure. In February 2025, North Korea reopened tourism to foreigners after five years of lockdown, with Pyongyang, the capital city, still off limits. However, only a month later, North Korea closed its borders again in March 2025.
History and overview
Tourism in North Korea started developing in the 1980s: the National Tourism Administration of North Korea was established and the country joined the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Built in view of the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1989, the Chongnyon Hotel ( () meaning 'youth' in Korean) was the fourth high-capacity accommodation built in Pyongyang since the Korean War and the first built specifically with foreign tourists in mind. This hotel, one of the longest-operating hotels in the country, was still qualified as "basic" in a 2019 survey of non-Korean guests (power outages and hard mattresses are cited among other deterrents), although two of the hotel's upper floors were renovated in 2017. The 47-story Yanggakdo International Hotel gets better reviews; it was built by a French construction company between 1986 and 1992, although it opened only in 1995. With its one thousand rooms and a revolving restaurant on the top floor, it is the largest and most-visited by international guests.
The Ryugyong Hotel and leisure center was less fortunate: started in 1987, its construction was halted in 1992 because of the country's economic crisis in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Construction resumed in 2008, the exterior was completed in 2011, partial opening was announced for 2013 but was cancelled, and in 2024 the government was looking for a casino operator willing to complete the building in exchange for profits from the casino.
The Tour Guide-Interpreter School was opened on February 5, 1987, to train tour guides proficient in foreign languages.
In 1998, Mount Kumgang near the southern border was opened to South Korean visitors and received almost two million South Korean tourists between 1998 and 2008. Mount Kumgang Tourist Region, which was jointly administered by the North and South Korean governments, was established in 2002, but South Korean tourism to the region was halted after a South Korean citizen was shot there by a North Korean soldier in 2008. The North Korean government announced plans to demolish all South Korean-built facilities in the region in 2019, and most facilities were gone by 2024. The closure of the Mount Kumgang Tourist Region Administration, an office of the North Korean government, was announced in 2024.
In 2001, North Korea established formal ties with Spain and sent a diplomatic mission to the UNWTO headquarters in Madrid, to gain knowledge and develop connections.
Rungra People's Pleasure Ground, an amusement park with a dolphinarium on Rungra island in Pyongyang, was opened in 2012.
The new policy of was declared in 2013, aiming at developing both the nuclear weapons program and the economy – the latter including tourism with a nationwide development planning. Following this, North Korea has pursued the construction of tourism infrastructure in recent years: the Masikryong Ski Resort and the Yangdok Hot Spring Cultural Recreation Center were opened in 2013 and 2019 respectively.
The long-stalled and long-deserted Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area on the east coast, started in 2018: its achievement had been prioritized even above rebuilding areas damaged by flooding in the northern part of the country; its size suggests that it has been planned with Chinese tourists in mind. Wonsan-Kalma opened in July 2025 to domestic tourists, six years after its original planned date of completion.
The Tour Guide-Interpreter School of 1987 became the Pyongyang Tourism College in April 2014 and its tour guide curriculum expanded with training in tourism management and tourism administration, with some online education options, 3-to-6 month overseas training for lecturers, and foreign visiting lecturers providing language and specialized instruction to both students and teachers. In 2016, linked with Make It Happen agency, it started receiving volunteer teachers for 1-week or 2-weeks engagements, to teach English and Chinese.
The government also seeks to develop other types of tourism besides the basic sight-seeing of national landmarks such as Panmunjom (where the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War was signed), Kaesong or Nampo special cities. It offers alternative activities such as participation in the Pyongyang Marathon (open to foreign professionals since 2000 and to foreign amateurs since 2014) or surfing tours, and in 2019 it turned towards medical tourism: the Treatment Tourism Exchange Corporation was established in or shortly before December 2019 to manage the development of health clinics aimed at tourists.
, it is estimated that Kim Jong-Un has spent US$7.8billion in hotel renovations and tourism amenities. In 2023, he had a law adopted on "revitalizing" tourism.
Politics behind the tourism push
As a result of international economic sanctions, the country's economy is in dire need of foreign currency; and tourism is one of the few economic sectors yet more or less untouched by the UN sanctions.
The regime is also hoping to ride the booming wave that has been lifting global tourism in East Asia since the 2000s and even more spectacularly in the 2010s. Therefore, the government has invested heavily in various aspects of tourism, with some positive results. Although the absence of official statistics does not allow for a clear view of North Korea’s results in regard of its tourism strategy, it is estimated that tourism revenues have increased by approximately 400 percent between 2014 and 2019. This provided revenues and foreign currency for the regime, up until the country closed its borders to international travelers in January 2020.
Even before the pandemic, however, foreign visitors were notably too few to justify such big investments, and the cost of their services makes them entirely inaccessible to North Koreans beyond the narrow fringe of the very rich – for example, as of 2021, a one-night stay in the Hyangsan Hotel cost $1,500, which corresponds to nearly 85% of the average annual income of a North Korean. From the outside, these touristic establishments are seen as "prestigious propaganda project for the [North Korean] regime."
Defectors from North Korea are mostly against foreign tourism. Their view is that income from tourism serves to prolong and support the regime, not the people. The average North Korean is also not allowed to have any contact with tourists (and is put at great risk if such contact is forced upon them), therefore, tourists have very little impact, if any, on changing North Koreans' views about the rest of the world and their own country's actual development or lack thereof; the few people that are allowed to approach tourists already know enough about the outside world. Moreover, tourists are kept away from experiencing or witnessing the way most citizens live day-to-day, and are particularly kept away from any negative experiences, meaning they return with false perceptions of the reality in North Korea. One defector goes as far as saying that "in North Korea the positive effects of tourism are about 1% and the negative effects 99%."
Tourism in North Korea has been described as a "catch-22": for expensive projects aimed at tourists to provide the expected return-on-investment, the North Korean government will have to lift many of the strong restrictions it puts on both tourists and citizens; one defector underlines that "if they do that, tourism will have a much greater impact on the people."
Restrictions and warnings Registering upon arrival
Travellers must register with North Korean government authorities within 24 hours of their arrival. This is done through their host organisation or their hotel.
Contact with the local population
Interactions between foreign tourists and local people have historically been tightly controlled.
In 2024, talking to North Koreans without authorisation is considered spying (and punished as such).
International communications
, foreigners can buy SIM cards at Pyongyang airport, providing access to international calling.
As North Koreans are severely punished for making (or receiving) international calls, watching any foreign programs, videos, etc., visitors put local people at very high risk by merely showing them, let alone lending them, their own mobile phones, iPods and other similar devices.
Satellite phones and drones are not allowed.
Western literature about North Korea is not allowed. Neither are travel guides about North Korea, South Korea or Japan. Nor are pornography, religious content, or anything critical about the North Korean government. USB drives, CDs, DVDs, tablets, laptops, smartphones, digital cameras, and other electronic devices are thoroughly investigated by customs officers upon arrival.
Use of local currency
Foreigners are forbidden to use the North Korean won: they must use foreign currency. The euro is the most widely accepted foreign currency; US dollars and Chinese yuan are also widely accepted. Exchanging currencies is difficult; visitors cannot use ATMs, traveller's cheques, or debit and credit cards and are advised to take enough foreign cash for their trip in small denominations.
Respect towards the North Korean leaders and nation
The Swedish diplomatic mission to North Korea emphasises that contempt for the North Korean nation, its leaders and its symbols such as its national flag, portraits of their leaders, propaganda posters, etc., are regarded by North Korean authorities as very offensive. There is very little tolerance for what the government considers as disruptive behaviour, and this can lead to long term imprisonment, hard labour or death. Last updated: May 22, 2021. Translated from Swedish: "Respektlöshet mot värdlandet och dess symboler, i vid bemärkelse, tas mycket illa upp. Toleransnivån för störande beteende är minimal och sådant kan leda till fängelsestraff."
Visitors are advised to avoid referring to the country as "North Korea" and instead use DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea).
Shopping
Visitors are not allowed to shop elsewhere than at stores designated for foreigners.
Taking photos
Taking photos of anything other than designated public tourist sites is considered to be spying and punished as such. Visitors must always ask their designated guide for permission before taking photos, especially photos of people, including the guides. Particularly sensitive topics are: anything involving North Korean military zones, military property, and soldiers; scenes of poverty; and construction sites.
Photos of statues must include the whole statue; close-ups of the head of a statue are forbidden.
Digital cameras or video cameras must not have GPS devices.
Fashion and dress laws