B.C. Takes Off
The elections are over and the first news out of Bay Street is the Scotiabank’s report on how good things are going in B.C. and how that should continue for years to come.
The report was written by Mary Webb, Scotia’s senior economist. She basically said we are on a hot streak and our challenge is managing it so B.C. gets the maximum advantage of this positive time to shape our future.
“Provincial government policy, alongside the economic pickup in the United States and abroad, are all expected to lift B.C.’s annual growth to the three per cent range this year and next.”
The report clearly points out the province’s economic performance of 2.2 per cent last year was ahead of the national average for the first time in seven years.
It was just days after the Canadian Federation on Independent Business showed the optimism of small business at a record high in all sectors of the province, and again that was in contrast to the balance of Canada.
Webb was very enthusiastic about the B.C. government’s public-private partnership program. She said there was no doubt it is the most advanced in Canada and they must keep the momentum going. It will be an integral part of the financing of the 2010 Olympic games.
Our performance is GDP growth pegged at three per cent in 2004 and 3.2 per cent in 2005 in the bank report.
It’s all about a healthy B.C.
I didn’t know that…
When you see the list of hotels and resorts in the planning stages or getting ready for construction in the Okanagan Valley it focuses on how much this area will become a larger destination area for travellers in the future. There is the possibility of 10 new facilities across the valley in the next four to five years.
The future supply of rooms and suites or pillows as the industry likes to describe the situation in unprecedented in the valley.
We have been here for 27 years and in that time maybe a total of 10 new hotels have been constructed.
Several hotels have undergone extensive renovations over the years.
What is the primary market for all these new properties on the table at the moment? I would have to say leisure travellers.
The tourism sector of the recent Okanagan Partnership clusters took a serious look at tourism for the future in this valley. It came to the conclusion at the end of the first round that the industry has not reached its potential, so much growth is expected there in the future, Certainly as this valley grows on the business side, the business travelers will be just as important as they are today, or more so. But a new element will be the health and fitness traveller visiting the spa operations from all over the world.
Starting in the south valley is the Spirit Ridge Lodge and Spa in Osoyoos, with phase one 95 units. But there is a possibility of four phases in this development . In Penticton Robin Agur’s new convention hotel on property where the Travelodge has been operated successfully for 40 years. This is expected to be 150 rooms and suites. There are also plans to build a tower for the Lakeside Resort Penticton. Owner David Prystay, said he is ready to begin construction. The resort features 76 suites.
At Westbank, the Cove Beach Resort development will replace the current lakeside operation with a luxury suite hotel of 150 units. There will also be conference facilities on the waterfront.
Downtown Kelowna will have plenty of attention in the future planning and create almost a boon for the downtown area that has fought the windmills the last few years. The Willow Inn location will be huge, with the Edmonton developer planning a boutique hotel, condo’s and retail for the location on Queensway down to the waterfront. We know The Grand has had a successful run since its opening day and is looking at an expansion plan that could include a lot of area never discussed before .
We continue to hear rumours about the Canada Lands property across the street from Prospera Place, even down to the name of the group still interested in the site for a hotel, although nothing is official.
OnHarvey Avenue, the Best Western Inn that just opened its own tower in 2000 has purchased land on Central Park for an expansion plan that could include another tower and waterslide.
There is no official word from the Joe Huber Jr. on the future plans for the Prestige Hotel in downtown Kelowna but land is owned and a tower has always been in the plans of the successful locally based chain. I have a feeling Huber is also searching out a possible resort property in the Interior.
Out at Mckinley Landing, developer Grant Gaucher got his first OK from city hall to go ahead with a public hearing on his proposed Vintage Landing Resort and Spa. There is a 250 room hotel planned for that site.
Then comes the Lodge at Predator Ridge in Vernon. The first phase of this condo hotel has just been completed, a home away from home for the visiting golfers.
Right next door, the giant world class spa, hotel and resort Kristall is under construction. The ground work on that property is massive. This European chain has locations all over the world. This is quite a coup for the Okanagan.
There could still be more interest in the resort/spa business in future in this valley because it has become the perfect place to establish such locations. The want of lakeshore property has become more difficult.
All those years the entrepreneurs has the same idea about spas and the future and no one would listen to them.
Sidebar, there are said to be eight golf course properties at one stage or another in planning for the Okanagan Valley.