Sources from within China and North Korea have indicated that there is going to be extremely limited capacity for foreign tourists hoping to stay in Pyongyang for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung. Widely anticipated to be one of the biggest celebrations in North Korea for decades, many DPRK tour operators had reported significant demand for trips designed to coincide with the centenary. But new developments now suggest there may be significant limitations on the number of foreigners who can visit.

With a number of large hotels in Pyongyang and several thousand hotel rooms, most tour operators had been expecting no problem from their North Korean partners in dealing with the expected surge in demand for the 100th year anniversary. But Korea International Travel Company (KITC), the DPRK travel company that handles the majority of foreign tourists in country, recently contacted its Western partners to advise them that capacity will be severely limited during the celebrations.