Purpose. The aim of this article is to shed light on the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) as a site of cultural heritage and a tourist attraction. Moreover, it presents the recent development of tourism in Chernobyl and sketches the perspectives on the future of the CEZ. Method. To determine the character of the change process of the CEZ into a tourist attraction, the combination of content analysis and participant observation was used. Findings. The article, according to the authors’ knowledge, is the first in Poland to provide such a description of the development of tourism in the CEZ although, there have already been some publications considering this topic. Research and conclusion limitations. Exhaustive description of the problem complexity of of intersections between tourism development and cultural dissonances exceeds the possibilities of this article. Therefore, the case study of the CEZ needs further and broader exploration on the basis of statistical data as well as of data gathered by means of qualitative methods. Practical implications. The analysis provides potential avenues of enquiry adopting the perspective that the transformation of the dissonant heritage sites is caused to great measure by uncontrolled (or slightly controlled) tourism development. Simultaneously, it shows how a tourist may modify the image of the site and offer new, positive possibilities for local economic growth. Originality. For the first time in academic, this article scholarship raises the problem of the CEZ as a tourist attraction: it presents statistical data which prove the growing popularity of this site and describe the variety of tourist offer. Type of paper. The paper is based on the empirical research.