Chernobyl’s surprise tourism boom on the back of acclaimed HBO series raises uncomfortable questions
- Interest in the series itself echoes some of the big political debates of our time: truth versus lies, Russia versus the West
- How should we commemorate a human-made disaster of the scale of Chernobyl without turning the site into an adventure theme park?
Trip bookings for May of 2019 were 30 per cent higher than May of 2018, and were up over the next three months, said Sergii Ivanchuk, director of SoloEast Travel that organises trips to the nuclear power plant and its surrounding areas. Another tour company, CHERNOBYLwel.com, confirmed that its numbers also had increased.
On their tours, visitors usually head to the abandoned town of Pripyat next to the power plant, which was evacuated within hours, and other sites, including the former power plant itself. Radiation levels during the trips are considered to be safe, but the area around the power plant remains largely uninhabited until today.
HBO’s Chernobyl – a mix of real events and fictional accounts – immediately hit a nerve when it was released this spring. The silence at the time from Soviet officials who were unwilling to acknowledge that the catastrophe had happened reminded some of the wavering trust they have in their own politicians to tell them the truth. The destructive power of nuclear energy triggered memories of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and the nuclear threats exchanged between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un not too long ago.
Interest in the series itself echoes some of the big political debates of our time: truth versus lies, Russia versus the West, and the realisation that disasters can easily transcend borders.