Since the pandemic, this trend has kicked into hyperdrive, with the “grey dollar” (as it’s been jokingly nicknamed by some in the industry, after the most frequent visualisation of alien skin tone) being spent as never before.
According to Google Trends data, searches for “UFO travel” went stratospheric last week, growing by a Jupiter-sized 255 per cent. But even before America’s politicians started debating whether or not we’re alone in the universe, interest in alien-themed tourism was taking off – particularly in Nevada, where Area 51 is located.
Out there in the baking, Mars-like desert surrounding Las Vegas, there have been so many UFO sightings (now officially dubbed UAPs or “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena”) over the years that one stretch of Route 375 has been officially renamed “The Extraterrestrial Highway”.
Starting at the Alien Research Center in Crystal Springs – a cavernous giftshop overlooked by a 35ft alien statue named “Fred” – the 98-mile route takes you to just west of Tonopah, via the eccentric town of Rachel, and past the infamous gates of Area 51 itself.
Sadly, no tour will take you inside America’s most mysterious military installation (“You’d be face first in the dirt with a gun to the back of your head before you knew what was happening,” my guide told me, when I made it to the gate myself and tried to cross through), but plenty of outfits will take you around the perimeter.