Published date: 10 May, 2007

The business hotels in Sofia, which suit the foreigners’ requirements, are already incommensurate to the rising interest of our country.
All 4 and 5 star category hotels in Sofia are full at the moment and it is very difficult for the visitors of the capital city to find vacant rooms.
There is a lack of first class hotels for the foreign business tourists in Plovdiv and Varna, as well. The demand is higher than the supply at the moment, the professionals explained.
Some of the most luxurious hotels in the big cities are in a time of renovation now and do not work with their full capacity. According to a research for the period of January – March, 2007, the 5 star hotels have made a growth of 15% compared to the same period in 2006. The reason for this is the big number of seminars and congresses, which are held in Sofia, as well as the increased business interest of the country. The membership of Bulgaria in EU has brought international companies to the Bulgarian market and their representatives stay in luxurious hotels when coming to our country.
The first class hotels have become more and more busy and the answer for that is the increase hotel services’ supply, which is still lower than the demand.
The development of the congress tourism in the Bulgarian capital is the main factor for the construction of new business hotels.
15 brand new hotels are expected to be built by the end of this year in Sofia and the half of them will be located in neighborhoods in the skirts of Vitosha Mountain – Dragalevtsi, Boyana, Someonovo, etc. There are rush periods when the business hotels in Sofia are not anough to undertake all the incoming business tourists.

Together with the Sofia’s business hotels inadequacy, the city disposes large central developments, which haven’t been renovated for a long time and operate as lower class hotels. Some of these are the hotels “Hemus”, “Rila”, “Park-hotel Moskva” and “Rodina”. The capacity of there hotel complexes should start be used.
The Bulgarian Bureau for Congress Tourism recently announced that the conference events’ incomes in the capital have been increased with 25 % during the last three years. The association also says that the business tourists’ interest is not concentrated only in Sofia, but also in the other big cities in our country – Plovdiv and Varna.

There is a big deficit of hotels, appropriate for business purposes in Plovdiv too. Their capacity is not able to accommodate all business tourists, who visit the city during the big international exhibitions.
The companies which will take part in this year’s Spring Fair are expected to be more than 2000. It is not something unusual when visitors of Plovdiv travel to Sofia to find hotels where to stay at.
Varna also feels hotels deficit, but it is covered by the luxury complexes in the resorts near by. Apart of the hotel base the big cities of Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna need modern congress centers, equipped with spacious halls.
The business hotel deficit in the biggest Bulgarian cities is a serious problem in front of the congress business development.
The four biggest Bulgarian cities Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv and Bourgas, having the potential to develop business and congress tourism need to provide more first class luxurious hotels.