Operators reassemble plans for North Korea's Arirang Festival

(03/13/2007)

American tour operators are rushing to put packages together to take advantage of a window of opportunity that has quickly been opened by the North Korean government that will allow Americans into the country to attend the Arirang Festival that will take place April 15 to May 15.

Americans, usually not allowed in the country, will be allowed in for three nights to attend the festival. They will only be able to arrive by plane -- no entries by train are allowed -- and must travel by way of Beijing, where they must go to get their visas.

Tour operators who had previously put together groups to attend the festival that was planned for Aug. 15 to Oct. 15, 2006 had to cancel their trips when the festival was cancelled due to flooding after a typhoon.

Several of the operators who had put groups together for last year's festival, including Asia Pacific Travel, Universal Travel, Geographic Expeditions and Poe Travel, have quickly organized themselves to reassemble their groups to catch this last-minute opportunity.

"We know [the packages are] going to be snatched up quickly," said Tony Poe, director of marketing and public relations of Poe Travel. The "diehard" fans who really want to go will not be easily deterred, Poe said.

"They want to get in and see this place in the state it is in now," he said. "Who knows how long it will be in its current incarnation. It's the world's last Stalinist regime. That's the draw for me and for some of our clients. It's the nostalgia."

To contact reporter David Cogswell, send e-mail to dcogswell@travelweekly.com .