The number of accommodation facilities in Bulgaria has doubled to 3 300 over the past two years, data of the National Statistical Institute for 2007 showed.

The hotel bed capacity, however, over the same period grew by only 23.6 per cent to 273 300 countrywide. Each bed was booked for an average of 66 days last year, down from 70 days in 2006 and 73 days in 2005, the data showed.

Bookings made by foreign visitors amounted to 12 million overnights in 2007 versus six million made by Bulgarians. Annual revenues per hotel bed stood at 2 500 leva, up from 2 300 in 2006 and 2 100 in 2005. Each tourist made a booking for 3.8 overnights on average, each overnight generating a revenue of 37.8 leva.

The hotels in Sofia tallied 735 500 bookings last year. Each of the 12 400 hotel beds in the capital was booked for an average of 109.5 days, yielding close to 10 000l leva in annual revenues. The average cost per night is 85.6 levs. The average booking last year was for 1.8 days.

The Sofia bed capacity increased by 500 last year.