Moscow Is Touting North Korea as a New Tourism Hotspot. Few Russians Are Making the Trip.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/08/21/moscow-is-touting-north-korea-as-a-new-tourism-hotspot-few-russians-are-making-the-trip-a93388
115 points · 19 comments · view on lemmy.world
19 Comments
Amuro_eat@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 32 pts · 16h
Their propaganda isn’t remotely strong enough to make NK appealing
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 16h
Isn't Pyongyang already a tourist hotspot?
They see over 300k tourists a year, despite being one of the hardest countries in the world to visit. By comparison, San Diego sees around 600k visitors annually. And I can get there with a $200 plane ticket.
glasratz@feddit.org · 44 pts · 16h
I think you got that wrong. 300k visitors a year is very, very few. For comparison: Our local open-air museum for old farm houses has about 45k visitors a year. And it's only open in summer.
San Diego says they have about 30 million visitors a year. (https://www.sandiego.org/about/industry-research)
ladicius@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 14h
300k tourists is what Hamburg, Germany, does per week in the season (measured by over night stays). And that's one city and not a country.
laut_sprecher@feddit.org · 3 pts · 11h
And while Hamburg is a nice city, it’s also the place where it rains sideways
Maeve@kbin.earth · -3 pts · 12h
Yes, they're doing quite well. Luxury resorts for affordable costs, film industry, water parks.
Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 11h
Lmfao
stoy@lemmy.zip · 13 pts · 15h
One of the larger advantages for NK to allow foreign tourists is to get foreign currency.
Usually this has been in dollars or Euros, or even RMB, all of which are useful, but why would they want rubels?
betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 14h
Nutritional value?
HikingVet@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 14h
Since when?
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 1 pts · 10h
China likely accepts payment in rubles.
kudra@sh.itjust.works · -3 pts · 13h
given the current political climate I'm surprised they allow USD anymore. I'd expecting them to be sucking up more to China and requiring RMB.
stoy@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 13h
Eh, there are plenty of trade partners that hate the US that will happily trade in USD.
kudra@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 13h
yes, but politically these days (since March 2026) it seems much smarter to reject the US completely, it does not feel at all as stable as China now. I mean China's power is what has stopped the cost oil sky-rocketing into the stratosphere this year. China is clearly in control and the US is a dumpster fire now bent on destroying the globalisation it once created.
Telodzrum@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 12h
That’s nice and all, but the USD is still the global reserve currency. Until that changes, it’s what you want if you’re going to be doing business with other states or just foreign interests.
kudra@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 3h
China has been quietly selling off its USD for a decade. The geopolitical alliances have been shifting for a while, but Hormuz just pushed it into high gear.
Personally I now avoid doing business with US companies where possible and am looking into Bank of China for banking - getting away from anything that sends money to the US where I can. I doubt I'm the only one.
huppakee@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 12h
Imagine you're so isolated internationally your people can only have a holiday in North-Korea 💀
GenosseFlosse@feddit.org · 1 pts · 12h
Trips to other countries are getting to expensive, i imagine...?
TraipsersWill@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 15h
How's the fishing?