:00:00. > :00:00.people in custody unnecessarily. Now on BBC News, all the latest
:00:00. > :00:16.business news, live from Singapore with Asia Business Report.
:00:17. > :00:22.As Thailand releases its latest economic report card, we look at how
:00:23. > :00:27.the nation's bottom line is looking under military rule. And recent data
:00:28. > :00:40.shows that India is losing visitor numbers. We find out why.
:00:41. > :00:45.Welcome to Asia Business Report. In a moment, we are set to the
:00:46. > :00:49.weather Thailand's economy has avoided recession in the first three
:00:50. > :00:55.months of this year, which saw political chaos and thousands
:00:56. > :00:58.protesting in Bangkok. All eyes are on the second`quarter numbers, when
:00:59. > :01:08.the military took control of the country in a coup. Meanwhile, South
:01:09. > :01:11.Korea's top carmaker and the world's fourth largest is preparing
:01:12. > :01:17.for its 47,000 unionised workers to strike. They voted to take action
:01:18. > :01:21.after talks about wages collapsed last week but it is not yet clear
:01:22. > :01:26.when they will strike or how long. South Korean car producers face
:01:27. > :01:30.regular industrial action by employees but it does not mean they
:01:31. > :01:37.are immune to the damage that can be done. What effect could be strike
:01:38. > :01:43.have? There will be quite a bit of damage, especially given that Korean
:01:44. > :01:51.exports are facing pressure from both the weakening Japanese yen and
:01:52. > :01:57.a more competitive environment. If the demands of the union are net or
:01:58. > :02:05.even dilutive, the kind of wage growth will have an effect on
:02:06. > :02:13.profits. `` is the demands are met even in a diluted form. If they get
:02:14. > :02:22.higher wages, what effect might this have on Korean manufacturing at
:02:23. > :02:28.large? Will Korean companies fees `` companies seek cheaper manufacturing
:02:29. > :02:33.elsewhere? There is a broader trend of relocating auto manufacturing
:02:34. > :02:36.from Korea to China. And US manufacturing rates are becoming
:02:37. > :02:41.more competitive with relation to the Korean wage rate. It is likely
:02:42. > :02:46.that some of the manufacturing production will be moved to the US,
:02:47. > :02:57.especially if that is going to be sold on US soil. One of the world's
:02:58. > :03:04.biggest property developers has reported a boost in its first half
:03:05. > :03:10.net profit. It follows a downturn in the Chinese housing market. Profit
:03:11. > :03:16.rose by 6% to more than $780 million. Staying with China, tens of
:03:17. > :03:19.thousands of Volkswagen vehicles will be recalled on the mainland
:03:20. > :03:25.because of a problem with their steering systems. The recall will
:03:26. > :03:36.affect more than 50,000 vehicles made between 2010 and 2012.
:03:37. > :03:41.Volkswagen has a joint arrangement with the Chinese auto manufacturer,
:03:42. > :03:51.the FAW Group. Boggs wagon will replace the parts free of charge. ``
:03:52. > :03:54.Volkswagen. For a long while India has admitted
:03:55. > :03:57.it doesn't get as many foreign visitors as it might expect. Even in
:03:58. > :04:00.Asia, it lags behind Taiwan and Indonesia. Despite talk of trying to
:04:01. > :04:03.change that, recent data suggest tourist numbers are falling,
:04:04. > :04:10.possibly by as much as 30%. What is going on? In Delhi, our
:04:11. > :04:14.correspondent tells us more. The fatal gang rape of a young student
:04:15. > :04:16.here almost two years ago led to a countrywide protest and was reported
:04:17. > :04:19.worldwide, adding to an image that India, and especially Delhi, was
:04:20. > :04:22.unsafe for women. The organisation running India's famous monuments
:04:23. > :04:28.says since then they have seen a sharp fall in ticket sales to
:04:29. > :04:36.foreign tourists. Tourism makes up about 7% of the country's GDP, about
:04:37. > :04:42.the same as the IT sector. It is responsible for about 100 million
:04:43. > :04:45.jobs. But official data from last year showed the entire country
:04:46. > :04:47.attracted fewer than seven million tourists, while cities like London
:04:48. > :04:51.and Bangkok attract twice as much. But experts say not enough is being
:04:52. > :04:54.invested in making tourism here attractive. There are clear
:04:55. > :05:00.infrastructure issues. It is difficult to get to and from
:05:01. > :05:13.places. It's poor connectivity between places, lack of quality
:05:14. > :05:17.hotel infrastructure. And getting a visa to India isn't the easiest.
:05:18. > :05:22.These tourists have chosen India for their holidays. But with competition
:05:23. > :05:28.increasing from countries across the region, encouraging more to do the
:05:29. > :05:30.same is getting harder. And with an economy that is growing at its
:05:31. > :05:40.slowest pace in a decade, India can't afford to lose out on precious
:05:41. > :05:44.tourism dollars. Imagine knowing what you wanted to
:05:45. > :05:51.do from about the age of eight. Well, Matt Grainger did. He started
:05:52. > :05:55.working as a young surfing instructor at 12 before going on to
:05:56. > :05:58.study sport at university. Now, he runs one of Australia's most
:05:59. > :06:06.successful surf schools on Sydney's Manly Beach. He told the BBC more
:06:07. > :06:10.about his operations. When we first started, we only had
:06:11. > :06:16.about 15 surfboards and it was me and another guy. And now I have
:06:17. > :06:19.about 50 staff in the summertime, in the peak period. We teach people
:06:20. > :06:22.from around the world and local kids, who we teach as part of the
:06:23. > :06:27.school curriculum as well. It's turned into this really good
:06:28. > :06:38.business. Yeah. Who would have thought? At the end of the day, for
:06:39. > :06:41.me, surfing is about having fun, getting stoked and big`wave
:06:42. > :06:44.adrenaline. Let's have fun! We run four session today at Manly for
:06:45. > :06:47.group lessons. Then we have private lessons from when the sun comes up
:06:48. > :07:04.until the sun goes down. In winter, we have about 12 staff. You have ot
:07:05. > :07:07.have a good service. `` have to. We have all things like TripAdviser
:07:08. > :07:10.rating us. It's a big operation in summer. We have other beaches as
:07:11. > :07:14.well. I'm lucky because I love teaching surfing. I pretty much
:07:15. > :07:20.hand`picked most of my staff and trained them up. We do lower ratios
:07:21. > :07:24.for foreigners. Our core business is for foreigners. As we've grown, we
:07:25. > :07:27.have taken on local school groups, which we don't charge so much
:07:28. > :07:30.because they bring in about 60 kids at once. The seasonal thing is the
:07:31. > :07:38.problem because we have this massive... Bang or bust. So many
:07:39. > :07:42.customers through summer and business thriving, then pretty much
:07:43. > :07:45.we hit winter and we have to hold onto our core staff, keep them in
:07:46. > :07:52.the game. Rather than shutting down, we keep going. For the people to
:07:53. > :07:55.come and experience the buzz of Manly Beach, sand, surf, blue skies,
:07:56. > :08:11.clear water, we make it happen. This is a dream job.
:08:12. > :08:20.We have the latest from Thailand on its growth numbers, which are 0.4%
:08:21. > :08:27.growth on the year and 3.9% on the quarter. Thank you for joining us.
:08:28. > :08:33.Jonathan, Thailand has avoided a technical recession. Is that a
:08:34. > :08:37.surprise? It is in line with recent expectations. People have seen an
:08:38. > :08:42.increase in confidence and a slight increase in export informants,
:08:43. > :08:48.consumer confidence and invested confidence despite the enormous blow
:08:49. > :08:52.the economy took in the political turmoil and the coup. Tourism is
:08:53. > :09:00.down but at least the trend has reversed. When the authorities got
:09:01. > :09:05.the first`quarter numbers, showing a 2% contraction, it was extremely
:09:06. > :09:09.discouraging and a very worrying sign full of there were already
:09:10. > :09:13.economic problems facing Thailand even before the political turmoil,
:09:14. > :09:19.with lagging consumer confidence and higher consumer debt. Now, the trend
:09:20. > :09:21.is moving the other way, which will encourage the new military
:09:22. > :09:32.government, which is hoping that a high spending budget will be quickly
:09:33. > :09:35.dispersed. It has revived the massive infrastructure plans of the
:09:36. > :09:39.previous government, adding to a stimulus to keep the economy going,
:09:40. > :09:42.getting back to the kind of growth figures we have seen in the past but
:09:43. > :09:50.top even with this trend reversal, we are expecting only 1%, 1.5% of
:09:51. > :09:56.growth this year. It does suggest that the literary government is for
:09:57. > :10:00.now anyway good for the Thai economy. That is difficult to say.
:10:01. > :10:06.These figures reflect the second quarter. The coup happened only at
:10:07. > :10:09.the end of the second quarter. The new government has made reviving the
:10:10. > :10:15.economy and absolute priority but there are still questions about how
:10:16. > :10:17.it can handle that. This is the most militarised government in decades
:10:18. > :10:25.and they are untested in managing the economy. Thank you. That's it
:10:26. > :10:38.for this edition of Asia Business Report. Thanks for watching.
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