Bangkok: Notwithstanding India's age-old ties with Thailand, the tourist inflow from the South East Asian nation to the sub-continent continues to be woefully short of expectations impairing Buddhist circuit tourism in India.

Only 23,000 people from Thailand, including Indian expatriates, visited India in 2001.

This has compelled the country's diplomatic establishment to sit up and take notice of the utter lack of interest of predominantly Buddhist Thais in Buddhist circuit tourism in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The infrastructure has to be improved and international standard amenities and services provided to boost Indian tourism and hospitality industry, admits Indian Ambassador to Thailand Leela K Ponappa.

Her concerns about infrastructural inadequacies in India to cater to international tourists are not completely unfounded as the inaugural flight of Indian Airlines from Bangkok to Gaya on December 21 could not land at Gaya in the absence of night landing facilities and had to be diverted to Kolkata.

Ponappa is, however, optimistic about enhanced people-to-people contact between the two nations with the launch of direct flight between Gaya and Bangkok and hopes it would get a very positive response.

She feels the flight apart from imparting a contemporary dimension to the strong and long-standing bonds between the two countries would also increase tourist inflow to India from Thailand.

Thailand, a country with a population of 60.6 million, receives over 10 million foreign tourists against a little over two million who visit India, a country of over one billion, every year. Ponappa said 2.20 lakh Indian tourists visited Thailand in 2001.

Apinan Pavanarit, deputy secretary general to Thailand Prime Minister Thakshin Shinawatra exudes confidence that co-operation between the two countries would extend beyond trade and commerce to give a fresh impetus to tourism between the maritime neighbours.

"Our relations with India are extremely cordial and people-to-people contact will further strengthen it," he said.

Pavanarit said Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation S Y Naik, who led the Indian delegation to Thailand on the inaugural flight from Gaya to Bangkok on December 18, had assured Thai authorities that New Delhi would pursue an open sky policy with regard to Bodh Gaya, the sacred Buddhist pilgrim centre, to give a boost to Buddhist circuit tourism.

For Jaravetchasan, principal advisor to the Ministry of Transport of the Thailand government leading the 14-member delegation currently paying a return visit to India, it is like a dream come true.

"I longed to visit Bodh Gaya, the highest seat of Buddhism... I think a large number of people from Thailand will like to come to see the place where Indian prince Siddhartha Gautam attained enlightenment to become Buddha," he said.

PTI