More than 800 000 tourists would visit Bulgaria's ski resort of Bansko, Bansko mayor Aleksandar Kravarov told Focus news agency.

All ski infrastructure is being rehabilitated and repaired, Kravarov said.

The biathlon range and the winter stadium were almost ready, Kravarov said. This season's European Biathlon Championship will take place in Bansko from February 18 to February 26 2007, Focus reported.

Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association's (BHRA) chairperson Blagoi Ragin said that Bulgaria's winter resorts were prepared for the winter season. The infrastructure of almost all resorts was renovated, he said.

Ragin also said that Bulgaria's EU entry on January 1 2007 would affect positively Bulgaria's tourism rector.

The Danube River would become an internal border in the EU and Bulgaria could develop river tourism as Germany, Austria and Hungary did, Ragin said as quoted by Focus.

Bulgarian spa and balneology centres, as well as the winter and summer resorts, offered new technologies and reasonable price and would be competitive after Bulgaria's EU entry, Ragin said.

Nearly four million tourists would visit Bulgaria during winter season 2006-2007, Ragin said.