Chinese Tourists' Motivations and Satisfaction of Visiting North Korea

Abstract

This article reports results from a survey of 23 semi-structured interviews with Chinese visitors to North Korea. The interviews examined the motives for and subsequent assessments of their tour of North Korea. In addition to expected assessments such as perceptions of North Korea as a unique destination, the satisfaction derived from sightseeing, watching the Arirang performance and meeting to a limited extent North Korean people, there were also adverse comments about inadequate Korean programmes, overly flexible travel schedules that could change at a moment's notice, high prices and poor standards of food quality. One contribution that the article makes to the wider literature is not only is it a description of an under-researched tourist destination, but also an examination of the nature of cross-country comparisons and the role of nostalgia that emerged in these interviews.