BERLIN, March 6 (Reuters) - Ukraine's state tourism

agency has closed deals with several travel companies, including

Airbnb ( ABNB ), Expedia ( EXPE ) and VisitBerlin, to help

promote the country as a tourist destination once the war with

Russia is over, its head said on Wednesday.

A key project would be a route of war sites running from

Irpin, near the capital Kyiv, to Chernobyl, crossing cities such

as Bucha and Hostomel, said Mariana Oleskiv, chairperson for the

State Agency for Tourism Development (SATD).

"The easiest way is to forget but then you need to work

through that trauma and we need to tell it to the next

generation first of all but also to international visitors," she

said, speaking on the sidelines of a travel fair in Berlin.

As yet, there is no sign that the war which began when

Russian troops poured over the border in February 2022 will end

any time soon.

Oleskiv said the agency was looking for more platforms. They

were meeting with Tripadvisor ( TRIP ) and hoped to cooperate

with Booking.com.

The aim was to have platforms and target audiences in place

that could be activated as soon as the war is over, she said.

"So we hope, and that's what we work for, to have more

tourists than we had before," Oleskiv added.

Last month, the United Nations' cultural agency said $9

billion over 10 years will be needed for Ukraine's culture and

tourism sectors to recover. The two-year-old war had so far cost

the country over $19.6 billion in tourism revenue, it said.

"Hospitality is not the main industry where foreign

investment will go, but we have a couple of investment funds

interested in possibilities what could be done in Ukraine

later," Oleskiv said, without elaborating on possible investors.

Last year, domestic tourism had recovered close to 2021

levels and the agency is currently focusing on those tourists to

keep the industry alive. Only 20% of Ukrainians avoid travel in

their country because of the danger, Oleskiv said, citing a SATD

study.