Ukraine plans to attract more tourists to Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, head of the Ukrainian State Service for Tourism and Resorts Anatoliy Pakhlya said.
Pakhlya said Ukraine intends to develop all types of tourism in the country, including extreme tourism.
"Tours to Chernobyl are extreme tourism," he said.
"I think that the format of such tours can be expanded and, if we intensify our cooperation with the Emergencies Ministry, the number [of tourists] could be increased," Pakhlya said, adding that currently the number of those wanting to go there is not very big, however, there are plenty of curious people looking for adventures.
Pakhlya said that tours to Chernobyl also include one-day familiarization trips.
An explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 resulted in a highly radioactive fallout in the atmosphere over an extensive area. A 30-kilometer (19-mile) exclusion zone was introduced following the accident.
Vast areas, mainly in the three then-Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, were contaminated by the fallout from the major nuclear meltdown. Some 200,000 people were relocated after the accident.
Russia also offers extreme tours, such as ones to the most infamous prison camps, Josef Stalin's Gulags. Tourists may spend their "holiday" in the Soviet prison camp and feel the experience of being a prisoner.
MOSCOW, December 10 (RIA Novosti)
