Congress tourism revenue in Bulgaria went up 25 per cent over the past three years, Bulgarian Convention and Visitors Bureau managing director Polly Karastoyanova said.

Revenue would grow even more after Bulgaria’s EU accession, Katastoyanova said as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Still, Bulgaria lacks official data on exact convention tourism profit. The information so far is based on the income of the four biggest convention centres in the country, National Palace of Culture, Inter Expo Centre, Plovdiv Fair and Festival & Congress Centre in Varna.

Bulgaria will promote its convention tourism product during the international exhibition specialised travel expo IMEX. The fair will be held in the German city of Frankfurt from April 17 to 19 2007.

Bulgaria’s promotion will focus on the four biggest Bulgarian cities having the potential to develop convention tourism, Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv and Bourgas.

Karastoyanova said that Bulgaria’s business could make use of its current base to develop convention tourism.