북·중 관광협력의 현황과 시사점 (Cooperation between North Korea and China in Tourism and Policy Implication)

Korean Abstract: 중국과 북한이 관광협력을 추진하게 된 배경은 서로 조금씩 차이가 있다. 먼저 중국의 대북 관광협력은 양국간 정치관계에 영향을 받았으며, 동북3성 진흥전략이라는 거시적인 틀 내에서 추진되고 있다. 또한 중국은 관광산업 개발이라는 정책기조하에 북ㆍ중 관광협력을 전개해왔다. 반면 북한은 외화를 확보하기 위한 수단으로 관광산업을 육성하기 시작했으며, 그 과정에서 중국은 북한의 주요 관광협력국가로 자리매김 하였다. 또한 북한은 중국과의 관광협력을 통해 경제개발에 필요한 기반시설을 마련하고 있는 것으로 보여진다. 북ㆍ중 관광협력은 양국간 관광객의 상호 왕래보다는 중국 관광객의 북한 여행이 거의 대부분인 편중된 형태로 이루어지고 있다. 실제 2012년 한 해 동안 중국을 방문한 북한 관광객 수는 4,500명인 반면, 북한을 방문한 중국 여행객 수는 베이징, 옌지ㆍ훈춘ㆍ투먼, 선양ㆍ단둥 출발지만 기준으로 할 때 약 5만~6만 명이었다. 본 연구에서는 북중관광이라는 주제와 관련하여 거의 처음으로 수행된 종합적 조사사례로서 전반적인 여건 및 실태조사에 초점을 두었다. 그러나 향후 북한 내 관광산업 기반여건 및 관광수요 등 특정주제에 대하여 좀 더 심도있는 연구가 진행된다면 남북 관광협력계획 등의 수립과정에 효과적으로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다. English Abstract: China is the most significant partner to North Korea in economic cooperation of tourism. In 2012, 4,500 North Koreans traveled China, while at least 50,000 Chinese traveled North Korea. It is between April and November that Chinese tourists visit North Korea. During winter, North Korea close its door to foreign tourists due to a electronic power shortage, ice formation, problem in heating supply, and other limitation in environmental factors. There are two different types of tour programs in North Korea, in terms of border city tour and Pyongyang and other city tour. The first one focuses on traveling border cities between the North and China, while tour programs in the second one concentrate on traveling Pyongyang and its nearby cities. Vehicle, train, or walking on foot is main transportation in the border program, while airplane, cruise, train, and vehicle are main transportation for the interior city tour. Average cost for the border program is approximately 700~2,500RMB per person, and it is 1,700~6,500 RMB per person for the Pyongyang and nearby city program. Yanji, Hunchun, Tumen, Shenyang, Dandong, and Peking are gate cities for traveling North Korea. Travelers from Yanji, Shenyang, and Peking are available for airplane, train, and vehicles, while those departing from Hunchun, Tumen, and Dandong take only train or vehicles. There are 1,864 international travel agencies in China, and among them only selected number of agencies which make contract with national travel agencies in North Korea, in terms of Chosun International Travel Agency, Chosun International Youth Travel Agency, and Chosun International Physical Education Travel Agency obtain authority to send Chinese trip to North Korea. There are approximately 15 authorized agencies in Yanji, Hunchun, and Tumen. In Shenyang and Dandong, it is about 10 agencies, and there are approximately 10 agencies in Peking. It is estimated that approximately 50,000~60,000 Chinese traveled North Korea in 2012. It also estimated that North Korea earned approximately 21.7million ~34.6million US dollar through Chinese travelers in 2012. When the fact that North Korea earned 86 million US dollar through Kaesong Industrial Complex in 2012 is considered, economic cooperation size in tourism between the North Korea and China is not small enough to be ignorant. Based on the paper results, fundamentally growth potential in tourism cooperation between North Korea and China is not high, because of limited Chinese tourist demand to North Korea, poor infrastructure and system, and low rate of return in North Korea tour goods. But, it could be positive factor that Chinese demand for overseas travel is growing fast. And it is hard to estimate trend of china's tourism demand to North Korea, because china travel agency started to deal with travel good in North Korea, recently.