July 7: As the unrest in the hill regions of West Bengal in India remains unsettled, the number of Indian tourists visiting Bhutan drops sharply.

Usually around 400 tourists visit Bhutan every day around this time of the year. The number has now dropped to 10. Even during the non-peak season, at least 100 Indian tourists come in everyday.

Immigration officials said apart from the unrest in the hill regions of West Bengal state, the bad road condition because of the ongoing road widening work on the Thimphu-Phuentsholing highway could have affected the turnout.

Normally the immigration counter remains jammed with a mix of labourers vying for work permits and tourists for route permit. This time the immigration office looks relaxed.

Indian tourists started coming in large number only from around 2006. This, Immigration officials attribute to the media coverage that Bhutan has received as a tourist top tourist destination. The majority of the tourists come from the state of West Bengal and Maharastra.

Indian tourists visit the country usually during summer and winter, either to escape the heat of the plains or to get a glimpse of the snow and the culture.

An average of 40,000 Indian tourists visits the country each year which is only going to increase.