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10 INVEST in BC 2 0 2 3 Official Publication of the BC Economic Development Association. In special partnership with BCBusiness. I n the face of global uncertainty around inflation, rising interest rates and geopolitical tension, Canada's westernmost province looks well poised to persevere. Of all the provinces, British Columbia was one of the quickest to recover from the disruption of COVID -19. Business activity, housing starts and major project investment returned to or exceeded pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021, the Chartered Professional Accountants of B.C. reported in their B.C. Check- up 2022. The number of active businesses has made up for losses in 2020 and now surpasses the 2019 level by a considerable margin. "B.C.'s economy has remained a picture of resilience through the pandemic," Central1 Credit Union chief economist Brian Yu wrote in an economic analysis last fall. "Employment has more than rebounded, unemployment rates have returned to pre-pandemic lows and labour scarcity is an increasing issue for businesses." Technology and health care saw robust growth in 2021, Yu's analysis pointed out. Generally strong commodity prices proved a boon to B.C.'s natural resource industries. The sectors seeing the greatest increase in business formations were information and culture (+8.7%), professional services (+7%) and food manufacturing (+5.1%) while wholesale trade (-3%) and tourism (-1.9%) continued to retrench. But today even the tourism and hospitality sector has reason to be hopeful. China's reopening following three years of stringent COVID -related travel restrictions is expected to provide a boost to trans-Pacific tourism. Culinary tourism stands to gain too. In late 2022, the Michelin Guides bestowed stars on eight Metro Vancouver restaurants. Tripadvisor's Traveller's Choice 2023 "Best of the Best" awards named Vancouver among the world's 20 premier foodie destinations. Looking ahead, the world soccer governing body FIFA has named Vancouver a host city for the 2026 men's World Cup, the most-watched sporting event on the planet. The provincial inventory of projects proposed or under construction with a budget over $15 million stood at $389 billion as of the third quarter of 2022. Among them, all actively underway, are the LNG Canada natural gas export terminal in Kitimat ($36 billion), the associated Coastal Gaslink pipeline ($14.5 billion), Site C hydroelectric project ($16 billion) and Trans Mountain oil pipeline ($30.9 billion). These projects lie primarily in the northern and Interior parts of the province, helping spread economic activity to the hinterland. Last year saw an unprecedented situation, where the number of job vacancies in B.C. exceeded the number of people looking for work, Business Council of British Columbia senior policy advisor Jock Finlayson and chief economist Ken Peacock noted in a Year in Review article published in December. "As the economy slows in 2023, labour market P R O V I N C I A L O V E R V I E W SOURCE: CENTRAL 1 ECONOMICS PROVINCIAL FORECAST REAL GDP GROWTH 2023 2024 2025 2023 2024 2025 1.3% 2.0% 2.2% EMPLOYMENT GROWTH 2023 1.0% 2024 1.1% 2025 1.6% POPULATION GROWTH 2023 1.5% 2024 1.5% 2025 1.3% RETAIL SALES 1.6% 2.6% 3.7% ON THE REBOUND: International travel may be the last sector to fully recover from the pandemic. Passenger traffic at Vancouver International Airport is around 90% of its 2019 peak