Passengers on its five-day Discover Chernobyl tour have increased four-fold since the five-part series, broadcast on Sky, started on 7 May.

Explore launched trips to Chernobyl in 2016 before debuting its Discover Chernobyl short break a year later.

It has since become the operator’s fastest selling trip, with Explore increasing departures 50% in 2018 and a further 23% this year.

Chernobyl remains the site of the world’s worst civil nuclear disaster. Reactor Four at the Soviet nuclear power plant – now part of modern day Ukraine – went into meltdown on 26 April 1986, claiming thousands of lives and a vast area around the plant irradiated.

The trip includes two days exploring the Chernobyl exclusion zone, including the town of Pripyat, the Red Forest, Chernobyl docks and the new protective shell built around Reactor Four.

It also features an opportunity to meet one of the people who decided to return to their home after the disaster. Departures are available year-round.

“The programme has become the highest-rated TV series of all time and has inspired many people to discover more about the historical disaster and to want to visit the exclusion zone,” said Explore’s managing director Jose Ponte.

Ponte added over the three days to 6 June, its Chernobyl short break had received the highest number of enquiries of any of its 500 trips.