Strange travel tours that didn’t exist 20 years ago

The travel industry is a lucrative one, but it’s important for tour operators to stand out from the crowd to get noticed. Some businesses have taken that notion so far that the tours they provide are absolutely unbelievable. From lung cleansing trips to guided tours through some of the most dangerous places on earth, here are the strangest travel tours that didn’t exist 20 years ago.

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1. Lung cleansing trips

It might sound ridiculous, but lung cleansing trips are a thing and a scary sign of what impact pollution really has on the world. People in China are going on holidays to countries like Thailand and Australia to get some fresh air into their lungs. A 10-day lung cleansing trip to Canada can cost upwards of $5,000.

2. War Zone Travel

People might be trying to flee countries like Syria and Iraq, but there are a select few thrill seekers who have an insatiable appetite for danger and will do almost anything to satisfy it. Some tour companies even go so far as to offer tours throughout these war-torn regions. “Iraq has it all,” says War Zone Tours. “From visiting the site of one of the largest car-bomb explosions in history, to walking the streets of one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.”

3. Slum tours

There’s been a lot of controversy about these types of tours. Is it politically correct to visit a slum and act as a voyeur towards people who are struggling in their day-to-day lives? Well, they’re increasing in popularity with more than one million people having visited a slum, township, barrio or favela in 2014. 

4. Space travel

The first moon landing occurred in 1969 and seemed like a magical feat that was literally, and figuratively, quite out of this world. But more than 40 years later, if you’ve got enough money then you too could potentially be blasted out into space. Virgin launched the world’s first commercial spaceline in 2004 with their first flight initially scheduled for 2009. The date has been postponed on a number of occasions, but trips into space could soon be on the program for eager travellers before you know it.

5. Nuclear wasteland tours

Chernobyl may have been hit by a deadly nuclear disaster in 1986, but more than 30 years later, the abandoned village is now a tourists hotspot. Tourists are willing to risk their health to visit the home of the worst nuclear plant accident, with tours operating in the area. Some tours even allow tourists to come within 100 feet of the reactor that caused the meltdown in the first place. 

Have you heard of any other weird and wacky additions to the tourism industry? Let us know in the comments section below.