A Shanghai travel agency is hoping direct flights from the city will attract more tourists to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) despite continuing instability on the Korean Peninsula, one of the agency’s managers told the Global Times on Wednesday.Jinjiang Travel, a big local firm, has opened an online booking service for two five-day tours that will be available from July 1 to November 31 and cost 6,260 yuan ($964) and 5,999 yuan ($924).

Dong Ming, manager of the company’s overseas travel department, said it hoped to rebuild the North Korea tourism market, which collapsed last year following the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel, the Cheonan, which has led to heightened tension on the Korean.We believe the direct flight route, which will cut the previous travel time in half, can draw back those travelers who feel tired of transferring at Beijing or Shenyang. Anyway, North Korea is still a mysterious and attractive country for many people, both old and young, and it’s not much more expensive than the original route, which cost 5,880 yuan,he told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Aircraft on the three-hour direct flight route departing from Shanghai every Tuesday and Friday can take about 130 travelers at a time.Although improved connections could help the market recover, a real boom in travel to DPRK is unlikely, said Sun Zhan, manager of the DPRK tourism department of Shanghai CYTS Tours Corporation.These trips will only be attractive when the social situation remains stable, more tourist sites are opened and better services are offered,added Gu Xiaoming, a professor of tourism management from Fudan University.The first group tour to DPRK sold out within half a day when bookings were opened in last year in Beijing, Beijing-based Legal Evening News reported.