Business

Booming autos exports help plug gaping tourism hole Employees work at an assembly line in the Toyota manufacturing plant located in Chachoengsao. (Reuters file photo) As tourism-reliant Thailand struggles with a collapse in foreign visitors, the country's auto sector is picking up some of the slack with the value of car exports tipped to surge to a record this year as the global economy reopens. As tourism-reliant Thailand struggles with a collapse in foreign visitors, the country's auto sector is picking up some of the slack with the value of car exports tipped to surge to a record this year as the global economy reopens. The Southeast Asian nation is Asia's second-most popular tourist destination but its famous beaches, street markets and pagodas have been starved of business over th...

(Editor’s note: This story was first published on July 13, 2021. This version corrects details on the bus coalition .) THUNDER BAY — When Kasper Wabinski added a coach/bus line to his aviation business to help move passengers “up north” through inclement weather, little did he know he would be on the cusp of developing a plan for a potential transportation service across the entire country. Wabinski owned and operated Kasper Air with two aircraft that flew passengers into Northwestern Ontario’s far north communities. His newly added bus line improved his service with an inevitable expansion on the horizon. “We managed to create a small company with two routes that were licensed within the first year and we grew it from there,” he said. As closing bus companies made routes available, Wa