But do they realise how expensive a visit to North Korea is going to be?
The state-run KCNA news agency showed the ship in a story on Monday about the country’s ongoing nuclear and missile tests
‘Woe is our land’ Koryo Hotel abandoned by Kim Jong-un ‘is now an eyesore’
The blue-hulled ship will be anchored off the east coast for the public to enjoy
Experts fear it could become a tourist attraction
North Korea has been working on the Koryo Hotel, dubbed a floating hotel, for more than 50 years
An unfinished luxury hotel, dubbed a floating hotel, is bobbing in North Korea’s Yellow Sea waters, where the Korean peninsula meets the South.
The blue-hulled ship was decommissioned in 2014 and has been abandoned off the east coast.
But if the latest pictures are anything to go by, then it looks like it may become a tourist attraction in Pyongyang.
In a state-run report, KCNA, the official news agency of the North, showed the ship in a story about the country’s ongoing nuclear and missile tests.
“Woe is our land” is still spray painted on the bow of the 170m-long (600ft-long) Koryo Hotel.
It will be positioned far from the sensitive North Korean port city, and will be anchored off the East Sea.
A frame of the hotel’s exterior is seen inside the ship, along with the structure’s windows – which are broken.
Some experts believe it could become a tourist attraction.
The Yoon Jeong-won told the Yonhap news agency that it was possible the hotel could be put to “improved use” or be sold to the public.
The seafront site, off the coast of North Pyongan province, was originally intended to host 1,000 luxury tourists.
But after the country’s most recent rocket launch in December, work was halted.
As for the hotel’s docking location, Mr Yoon said there would be “huge costs” for engineers to move the ship to the eastern coast.
“Such a project wouldn’t make sense,” he added.
The Koryo Hotel, built by Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, in 1968, has so far stayed dry in the sea.
Despite the rapidly changing political situation on the Korean peninsula, however, the location for the derelict hotel remains unchanged.
By Greg Penner, BBC News, Pyong An province