How HBO drama Chernobyl has transformed a nuclear wasteland into a tourist hotspot

Jul 3 , 2019

Travel companies say that since the HBO series, Chernobyl – focusing on the nuclear disaster of 1986 – was first shown in May, there has been a big increase in the number of people wishing to visit places in the Chernobyl exclusion site, such as the medical facility in the ghost city of Pripyat (above), which was where the first victims were treated. Photo: AFP

Miniseries, first shown in May, sparks 30 per cent rise in tourists who wish to visit the area affected by the 1986 reactor fire, with numbers set to double to 150,000 this year

HBO’s latest miniseries, the historical drama Chernobyl, has created quite a stir among travellers wanting to visit the site.

The five-part English-language programme, first shown in May, starring Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgard and Emily Watson, which focuses on the stories of the people who caused the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, in the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic – and those who tried to tackle the problem, including doomed first-responder firefighters and miners.

The acclaimed series has attracted not only the interest of budding tourists but has also led to a boom in the number of guided trips being arranged to the doomed site and the surrounding areas in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Reports suggest there has been a 30 per cent increase in demand among tourists wanting to visit the area this year since the television series was shown, with tour operators predicting that the number of travellers going to the site may double this year to 150,000 people.

An 11-day travel package includes ‘a once-in-a-lifetime journey of Ukraine, Transnistria, and Moldova, a region historically known as Bessarabia, one of Europe’s most fascinating – and drastically underrated – regions’

Atlas Obscura, tour company

One of the excursions that promises to take you around the former nuclear plant is offered by Atlas Obscura.

Designed as an 11-day travel package, the trip includes “a once-in-a-lifetime journey of Ukraine, Transnistria, and Moldova, a region historically known as Bessarabia, one of Europe’s most fascinating – and drastically underrated – regions”, the travel company says.

The sojourn enables tourists to immerse themselves in local cultures and traditions and learn about Soviet history and contemporary politics as they journey into the “incredible exclusion zone created by the Chernobyl nuclear accident”.

Interest in tours to the ghost city of Pripyat and other places in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, in Ukraine, have increased since the HBO television series was shown in May. Photo: AFP