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 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.

(Reporting by Nette Nöstlinger; Editing by Angus MacSwan)