No tours to N. Korea and all because of Ebola?
Foreign tourists with any travel history are now not welcome in North Korea - concerns about Ebola made Pyongyang bar any tours from entering the country. At least this is what North Korean specialized travel agencies tell media.
“We have just received official news from our partners in the
DPRK that, as of tomorrow, tourists from any country, regardless
of where they have recently visited, will not be permitted to
enter,” Gareth Johnson of the China-based Young Pioneer
Tours told Reuters.
North Korean state media released a statement on Thursday
notifying its readers that checks on travelers were becoming more
stringent.
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“Travelers and materials are undergoing more thorough checks
and quarantine at airfields, trading ports and border railway
stations than ever before,” the state KCNA agency wrote.
Further agencies reported similar instructions. “We have just
received news from our partners in Pyongyang that the country is
not accepting any international tourists from tomorrow,
effectively closing its borders due to the threat of the spread
of the Ebola virus,” said a spokesperson for Beijing-based
Koryo Tours.
“It is unknown how long this closure will be in effect, and
due to the very changeable nature of DPRK policy, we are still
hopeful we will be able to run the three tours we have scheduled
for the remainder of 2014,” Nick Bonner stated.
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International travel to the notoriously insular North Korea is a
rarity anyway. Tourist travel is only possible with a guide.
This is not the first time the country has imposed entry limits
over a health scare.
“In 2003, the country closed its borders due to the threat of
SARS, despite not a single case being reported there,” said
Bonner.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization announced that 9,936
people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – all of which have
suffered the worst outbreaks – have contracted the disease.
Some 4,877 people have died in total.
