Twenty years after the closure of the last Chernobyl reactor, Ukraine wants to inscribe the site on the Unesco World Heritage List.
“It can help preserve the monuments there,” explains Culture Minister Oleksandre Tkatchenko.
This will help make the construction of roads and infrastructure possible.
Finally, and this is not the least important, it will optimize and increase the tourist flow.
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Before the halt caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Chernobyl had reached in 2019 the record number of 124,000 tourists, against 72,000 the previous year.
"The Chernobyl zone is already a world-famous attraction today," says Maxime Polivko, guide in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Tourists come to Ukraine for this reason.
Unfortunately, this place has no official status.
"According to the Minister of Culture, the area" should not be an adventure for people, as for the stalkers who walk in closed areas.
Visitors should leave Chernobyl with an awareness of historical memory.
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In the event of registration with Unesco, the Ukrainian government is counting on the arrival of more than a million tourists per year.
Ukraine is preparing a dossier for submission to Unesco before the end of March and a group of experts from the organization should then visit the site this summer.
The final decision is expected no earlier than 2023.
