Skiers and snowboarders face a difficult choice: either wake up and leave for the slopes well before 8am, or face hour-long queues to board the single gondola up the mountain.

Locals are more than happy with the situation however. They say the crowds grow every year, and they have found ways to profit, whether by running taxis or selling cheap ski gear.

The town itself is making the most of the crowds of visitors. The infrastructure is a step above many other towns and villages in the region. Restaurants have long carried English-language menus as standard, and brands such as Heineken and Carling are widely available alongside the much more affordable local brew, Kamenitza.

Since the ski resort was revamped in 2005, the locals have largely been won over. The surrounding mountains are a Unesco World Heritage site. It is a source of pride for many in the local region, but now it is just as common to overhear locals in Bansko hoping that the title will not be a barrier to more development.

Given its popularity as a destination for foreign tourists, Bansko is treated as a leading light for the national tourism industry. And as tourism plays such a significant part in Bulgaria’s finances – about 3% of national GDP in 2008 – the influence of the town extends far beyond other towns of its size.

But while the resort is pulling in money, there are signs that some investors have bet too much on the success of the resort. The town is dotted with derelict, half-developed properties, and visitors speak of staying in near-empty hotels. Bansko has a permanent population of only 9,000, but there are 22 hotels for sale in the town, with similar numbers also up for sale at rival resorts Pamporovo and Borovets.

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The substantial oversupply of hotel accommodation in the town reflects an oversupply across Bulgaria since 2000. Visits by foreign tourists, many from the UK and Germany, but also from neighbouring Romania, have more than doubled over the period. Growth in accommodation outpaced the growth in demand year on year, according to European Union statistics.

The bubble was not restricted to commercial investors. Bulgarian residential property was once widely advertised to foreign investors. In 2006, adverts could be seen on London’s Underground, boasting cheap properties and solid returns. Today, local estate agents in Bansko advertise properties at a fraction of the prices from two years ago.

However, the struggles of Bulgarian property investors are not expected to interfere with tourists’ travel plans. The country punches above its weight in the global tourism stakes. In 2008, by the number of tourist arrivals at the country, Bulgaria ranked 39th in the world with 5.8 million visitors – ahead of Australia, India and Brazil. The most popular country was France, with 78.4 million visitors.