The first IV. National / I. International Balıkesir Tourism Congress, which will be held on April 18-20, 2024, was organized by Balıkesir University School of Tourism Management and Hotel Management under the chairmanship of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cevdet AVCIKURT in Balıkesir in 2004. This congress was a scientific meeting with national participation, which was one of the first congresses organized in the field of tourism in Turkey. In the first congress held in Balıkesir, it was decided to organize the congress every two years on a rotating basis in line with the opinions of the faculty members in the scientific committee and the request of the administrators of Çanakkale 18 Mart University School of Tourism Management and Hotel Management to organize the congress.
25 papers were presented at the I. Balıkesir National Tourism Congress organized by Balıkesir University School of Tourism Management and Hotel Management at Balıkesir University Çağış Campus on April 15-16, 2004; 34 papers were presented at the II. Balıkesir National Tourism Congress held on April 20-22, 2006; 88 papers were presented at the III. Balıkesir National Tourism Congress held on April 17-19, 2008.
At the 1st National Turkey Tourism Congress held by Sakarya University on September 7-8, 2007, it was decided to gather the tourism congresses under a single roof and to terminate the congresses held under different names. Since the announcements of the III Balıkesir National Tourism Congress were made before the congress held in Sakarya, the last congress was held in 2008.