In travel news this week: a look inside North Korea’s answer to Waikiki, a taste of Turkey’s beloved brew, plus fees for travelers to the US will rise at the end of September.

Visitors to the US from some of the nation’s closest allies will soon be required to pay higher fees outlined in the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Specifically, a hike to the fees associated with the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, which processes travel applications from residents of more than 40 countries that are part of the Visa Waiver Program.

Those countries include the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and most of Europe, as well as a handful of countries in other regions, including Qatar in the Middle East.

Prior to the passage of President Trump’s signature legislation, applicants to the ESTA system, as it’s known, paid $21. Now that mandatory fee will nearly double on September 30 to $40.

It’s one of several fee increases associated with travel to the US from abroad. Travelers arriving through a land border will also see their fees go up with an increase in the I-94 Arrival/Departure Record cost. Right now, travelers required to pay the fee only have to part with $6.

That amount jumps to $30 at the end of the month.

Lastly, travelers from China will be asked to pay a $30 enrollment fee for the Electronic Visa Update System. The September 30 effective date for the fee increases was outlined in a recent notice in the Federal Register.

The increase in fees, combined with the looming $250 “visa integrity fee” for many travelers from non-visa waiver countries, comes at a time when travel to the US from abroad is in a major slump.

As CNN’s Natasha Chen reported, many Canadians and other international visitors to the US are staying away. The World Travel and Tourism Council projected in May that the United States will lose $12.5 billion in international visitor spending in 2025. It was the only country out of 184 economies analyzed by the council, a global tourism advocacy organization, that will see a decline this year.

The new visa integrity fee has not yet been applied. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security repeated to CNN that it “requires cross-agency coordination before implementation.”

Houston-based immigration attorney Steven Brown said he didn’t think the increase in fees will be much of a “hindrance” for most travelers. But he said the visa integrity fee is an entirely new thing.

“It will be intriguing to see because lots of questions are out there,” he told CNN Travel. “So we pay the fee, but how does it get refunded? Who is tracking compliance? How do you prove compliance?”

North Korea’s stellar but largely empty beachfront resort

At the newly built Wonsan-Kalma resort, visitors will find miles of white sand, turquoise waters, and rows of pristine hotels. None other than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hopes the development will be his country’s answer to Waikiki.

With a few differences, however. The resort is divided into domestic and international zones. And in the international section, a group of Russian tourists recently were among the few visitors to be found. CNN talked to some of them to hear about their vacation.

The majesty of the Hagia Sophia

What’s it like to visit a 1,600-year-old house of worship that has outlasted empires?

Well, to put it simply: unlike any other experience. That’s because no other place on Earth has Christian mosaics of saints and Byzantine rulers juxtaposed with Islamic calligraphy, also known as Hüsn-i Hat (they are large roundels displaying the names of Allah, the Prophet Mohammed and the four caliphs, the leaders of Islam following the death of Mohammed).

Turkish coffee with a side of destiny

Coffee is a much-beloved drink in Turkey. It also has a history that stretches back centuries.

Turkish coffee is a ritual and arguably the ancestor of all modern bean-based caffeine kicks. It’s a nearly 500-year-old piece of history, inscribed by UNESCO on its intangible cultural heritage of humanity list.

The story of Turkish coffee, however, begins not in Turkey, but in Yemen. Here’s how it all started brewing

From nurse to nomad: She’s living full-time on cruise ships

Belencia Wallace is living the dream, if quitting work and living full-time on a cruise ship is your idea of a good time — and it should be. Wallace, known as Ladybug Travel, is a registered nurse who sold nearly everything she owned to spend 15 months straight at sea.

Even if you aren’t planning a 15-month sea-based adventure, a water-resistant sunscreen is a vacation essential if you’re hitting some waves. Our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have this guide to the best.(CNN)