Bulgaria will have its stand at the international tourism fair Vakantiebeurs to take place from January 9 to 14 in the Netherlands.

Vakantiebeurs brought together professionals and people interested in tourism opportunities. In 2006 more than 1500 exhibitors took part in the fair and the number of visitors reached 240 000 people. Vakantiebeurs is organised for the 36th consecutive time.

More than 250 000 people are expected to visit the 2007 forum edition.

Bulgaria will be represented at Vakantiebeurs for the ninth time. Smolyan municipality and six tourism companies will take part in the forum.

In 2005, 48 450 tourists from the Netherlands visited Bulgaria. The figure represented a 26.23 per cent increase compared to figures for the previous year, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported.

According to press information Dutch were mainly interested in Bulgaria's coastal resorts, cultural tourism opportunities and ski resorts.

Bulgaria features as a destination in the catalogs of 30 Dutch tourism companies, BTA reported.