It was not so long ago when Bulgaria and Romania were competing with each other to attract tourists to their respective Black Sea resorts.

Newspapers on both sides of the border used to report how the two countries' tourism industries were using advertising tricks to portray each other's Black Sea coast as an unpleasant destination.

One such story was published in Bulgarian-language Standart daily on June 19 this year, saying how Romanian tour operators had waged a war on their Bulgarian colleagues by spreading rumours about "poor conditions and thieves" in Bulgarian resorts.

Standart quoted Romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei that "the horrors on the Balkans should make Romanians spend their summer holiday in Romania".

Romanian tour operators had even reminded their clients of eight Romanian tourists who were attacked by bogus police while travelling through Bulgaria in 2007.

To what extent such media reports have affected Romanians' desire to holiday in Bulgaria is hard to gauge. One thing remains clear, however. Both the Romanian and Bulgarian tourism industries have finally acknowledged that they have more chance of success by working together than apart. After all, both countries share a major problem and it is not the poor level of service, high prices or lack of proper infrastructure, for they can always improve by better management and staff training. No, their far greater challenge is nature itself.

It is a fact that Bulgaria's seaside is a seasonal industry, having only three to four months of high season. Starting in late April and ending in early October, the season has little potential to justify the big investments spent on it.

On August 29, it became clear that Romania is experiencing the same problem: lack of sufficient time to capitalise on its investments in tourism.

The first to face the problem with some kind of solution are the two municipalities that face each other on either side of the border. In Bulgaria's case this is Dobrich municipality, which has under its administration one of Romanian tourists' favourite choices in Bulgaria, the Albena Black Sea resort, as well as the resort towns of Balchik and Kavarna. Albena has already identified Romanians as good customers because the resort is a regular participant in the autumn and spring tourist fairs in Bucharest and broadcasts advertisements via television, radio and press. This strategy produced great results in 2007 when the number of Romanian tourists to arrive in Albena exceeded 27 000.

On the other side of the border, the will for a joint effort to overcome the winter lull has come in the shape of Constanta municipality.

On August 29, business organisations in the two municipalities announced that they had agreed to join efforts and seek opportunities to extend the tourist season through a project entitled Tourism 365 Days a Year, Bulgarian news agency BTA said.

They had even found support for the project from the Phare Cross-border Cooperation Programme Bulgaria-Romania, the Dobrich Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) said.

According to the chamber, the two municipalities will first organise a gathering of Bulgarian and Romanian companies working in the field of tourism to exchange practices and work on how to develop the project in a way that can benefit both sides.

A total of 160 tourism companies from 14 municipalities in Dobrich and Constanta municipalities were expected to join the project, evidence of the interest the two industries have in extending the season.

Following the latest trends the subjects of discussions will be spa and wellness tourism as an option for year-round operation of the accommodation facilities along the Black Sea coast, DCCI's Tatyana Gicheva told BTA.

The two sides had found money for attracting foreign know-how and when tour operators meet in October at a conference in Constanta, there will be Italian experts waiting to share experiences with them.

The plan also features exchange visits. Bulgarian tour operators will first visit the Romanian coast in January and then, soon afterwards, host their counterparts from Constanta in Albena, Balchik and Kavarna. In terms of information materials the two sides have decided to print 400 copies of a guide Tourism 365 Days a Year in both Bulgarian and Romanian, followed by an electronic database of key developments in tourism, culture, business and sports in Dobrich and Constanta.