North Korea has delayed the opening of its Masikryong ski resort, with neither the hotel nor ski-slopes accessible to tourists, NK News has learned.

The resort will not open until the middle of January as it is undergoing unspecified renovations, according to North Korea tour operators.

“We haven’t been able to send anyone out there because it hasn’t been opened yet, but Pyongyang informed me this morning that it won’t be opened until mid-January because of renovations,” Troy Collings, managing director at Young Pioneer Tours, told NK News.

“The hotel is closed too, the whole Masik ski area is closed until mid-Jan,” general manager of Koryo tours Simon Cockerell said.

Few details were given as to why the resort would not be open to tourists, though poor road conditions or lack of snow may be possible culprits.

“We think the renovations are actually to the roads leading to the ski resort, not on the resort itself. It’s not uncommon for winter conditions to damage the roads there, even the main East Coast highway from Pyongyang to Wonsan has needed repairs already this winter,” Collings said.

Current weather forecasts also show temperature forecasts remaining above the yearly maximum average in Masikryong’s Kangwon Province, with no snow predicted for the remainder of the week.

It is not clear however if North Koreans – who so far have made up the majority of visitors to the luxurious resort – can still hit the slopes.

“It’s almost all locals (who ski at the resort),” Cockerell said.

Satellite imagery released in October this year indicated the resort was undergoing upgrades.

The photos show what could be a new ski lift leading from the main Masik complex to the top of one of the further slopes. An accompanying building at the base of the slope was also added.

The ski resort is one of North Korea’s large scale projects geared towards boosting tourism to the DPRK, with estimated development costs totaling upward of $35 million.

Charging $50 per person, the People’s Committee in Kangwon Province and DPRK Ministry of Sports anticipated a net revenue stream of $62.5 million from the ski resort per year, of which $43.75 million would be profit.

It seems unlikely the resort has hit its targets however, this year’s delayed opening follows a total ban on tourism to the DPRK during the same period in 2014, over concerns about the Ebola virus.