Thousands of tourists visit the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site every year on holiday

The Ukrainian town of Pripyat was evacuated by Soviet authorities and remains a ghost town with no permanent population. However, there exist several tour companies offering trips and tours to Pripyat, now administered by Kiev’s State Emergency Service. Speaking to express.co.uk, Yaroslav Yemilianeko, head of Chernobyl tour said: “The vast majority of people consider Chernobyl to be a dark, polluted and abandoned place.

“Thus, a project was born to show that Chernobyl is really the story of mankind’s victory over the biggest human-made catastrophe in the world.”

Visits to the city are actually increasing, with tour companies partly attributing this to the HBO series about the disaster. 

Solo East owner Sergi Ivanchuk told express.co.uk that this year visits have increased by around 30 to 40 percent with Mr Yemilianeko adding it’s “the fastest-growing type of tourism in Ukraine” with him predicting 150,000 to 200,000 visitors in 2020.

Victoria Vlashenko, sales department customer care manager at chernoblywel.com, said: “Every day there are 800-1300 visitors in the Zone excluding workers.”

None of the tour companies, express.co.uk spoke to said it was difficult to organise these tours with Mr Ivanchuk explaining: “The process of organizing tours is already worked out and doesn’t take much time as we have our own guides and transport.

CHERNOBYL

The Chernobyl disaster took place 33 years ago (Image: GETTY)

pripyat

Pripyat was evacuated following the disaster (Image: GETTY)

“The only difficulty is to deal with authorities as rules change too often.

He insisted: “They are all safe and do not include highly contaminated places where protective gear may be required.”

Mr Yemilianeko said: “About 10 years ago, it took 2-3 weeks to prepare and assemble the group.

“Now, all tours take place on previously developed routes that are approved by the government and we can organize it in 1-3 days.”

READ MORE: Russia alert: Fears of new Chernobyl after Doomsday weapon leak

HBO CHERNOBYL

HBO’s Chernobyl mini-series has seen a boost to tourism (Image: GETTY)

He also insisted his tour company considered safety implications.

Ms Vlashenko explains: “It doesn’t take much to prepare a tour if everything is prepared.

“A guide has to pass an exam, make a contract with the Zone, prepare documents and we arrange permissions and insurances, order a car and a driver.”

The Foreign & Commonwealth website’s page for Ukraine travel advice mentions Chernobyl: “Some areas around the reactor are covered by an exclusion zone, and you may need to get a permit and travel with a guide.

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MIKHAIL GORBACHEV

Mikhail Gorbachev was Soviet leader at the time of the disaster (Image: GETTY)

shelter

The current shelter of reactor number 4 under construction (Image: GETTY)

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, although some of the radioactive isotopes released into the atmosphere still linger, they are at tolerable exposure levels for limited periods of time.”

After the reactor exploded, nearly 50,000 people were evacuated but concise death tolls from the disaster do not exist with the toll from long-term illnesses caused by radiation varying from 4,000 to 60,000 depending on the source.

However, all three tour companies spoken to by express.co.uk rejected the notion that this type of tourism was aiming to make money from death and destruction.

Ms Vlashenko explained: “We believe it is important to show what not to do. We learn from history not to repeat past mistakes. The best thing to do it is to see with own eyes.”

chernobyl

A view of the new protective shelter (Image: GETTY)

Mr Ivanchuk insisted: “Very rarely people visit Chernobyl because they enjoy, in some morbid, dark way, the suffering of others. They go because this is important and interesting. The 20th Century is full of dark events and suffering, and just like Auschwitz or Hiroshima, Chernobyl is one of them.

“Making sure people can visit Chernobyl is the most moral option to take. Closing Chernobyl to those who are interested, trying to have it forgotten, that would be immoral.”

He said over 400 reactors are due to built over the next 16 years and it was important to see what would happen “if something goes wrong again”.

chernobly tourism

A visitor checks her shows with a geiger counter (Image: GETTY)

Mr Yermelienko said the tour was more than about dark tourism: “It is not only a place where big tragedy happened, it is also a place where lots of heroes took responsibility and saved us from devastating pollution and it is a story about victory.

“We can compare the history of Chernobyl with the history of space exploration. People died while launching spaceships and while landing them. Despite all deaths, space industry is something the world is proud of. And now space is ready for tourism. With Chernobyl it is the same – a lot of people suffered to make this place safer for people and the world needs to know about them and their story of success.”

The remains of the reactor unit were covered by a shelter structure, nicknamed the sarcophagus, now covered by a new container, which is aimed to confine the radioactive remains for the next century.

HBO’s five-part mini-series on the disaster won several prizes at the Emmy Awards including for outstanding limited series, and gained an outstanding achievement award at the Television Critics Association Awards.

source: express.co.uk