half of all our visitors to Alaska and they’re an extremely important segment to our industry, and are critical for our growth,” Simpson said. “They’re really the driver for us reaching that 3 million visitor number last year and breaking those records. We are projecting around 1.7 million visitors on a cruise again this year. “There are two different segments to our cruise industry: the roundtrip cruiser who is going to spend their time on the Inside Passage and we also have ships that cross the Gulf of Alaska, and that's about just under a third of all ships that come over to Seward or Whittier. Those travelers are important, in particular, to Southcentral Alaska in the Interior because those passengers are then able to disperse across the entire state and they make an economic impact everywhere.” Simpson noted that the pandemic was certainly hard on Alaska tourism, the years afterward have brought business back to usual. “We’ve seen a 63% increase in the number of visitors to Alaska in the past 10 years even though we did see a decrease during the years when COVID affected the industry,” Simpson said. “Given that that was so devastating for our industry, the fact that the trajectory continued on an uptick after that speaks volumes for the travel industry as a whole.” Simpson also noted that things are expected to pick up throughout the year for airline passengers. “On the airline front and visitors who fly to Alaska, we’ve seen exciting news from our two major airports in Anchorage and Fairbanks about the projected capacity increases this year, Simpson said. “The expected increase is 6% in Anchorage and 5% in Fairbanks so there will definitely be more seats and more flights for visitors to access our great destinations and airlines are certainly making their route decisions and the destinations that they're flying in and out of based on demand of where they think that the market is.” Scott McCrea, President of Explore Fairbanks, said his members that cater to independent visitors, like hotels and guide services, are noting a downturn in reservations for the summer compared with last year. Fairbanks’ winter visitor season, a bright spot in the industry with aurora-viewing, was strong until March, traditionally the strongest winter month, McCrea said. March was down due to the uncertainties with tariffs and the economy. Visitors arriving by air, mostly independent travelers, were estimated at about 800,000 early this year. The independent travelers typically flying to Alaska are important because they usually plan their own itineraries and book hotel rooms and auto rentals themselves. They tend to spend more than cruise package visitors. There also appears to be a gradual, longer-term shift away from independent visitors toward cruise line travel. Data from McKinley Research done for the ATIA shows a gain in cruise travel between 2019 and 2024 from 60% of visitors to 66% and a decline among independent travelers over the same period from 40% to 34% of visitors. A new factor is the development of new cruise ship docks in coastal communities with new facilities planned in Whittier, Klawock, Seward and Juneau. This will add diversity, such as the new visitor destination at Klawock, and add capacity in Whittier, Seward and Juneau. This is particularly important for Juneau because a new dock there will reduce congestion in downtown parts of the city, a source of irritation for some local residents. www.AKRDC.org 39 — JUNEAU, ALASKA — AVAILABLE STATEWIDE operations@coastalhelicopters.com 907-789-5600 www.coastalhelicopters.com ✓ CONSTRUCTION ✓ EXPLORATION ✓ CONTRACT ✓ SUPPORT ✓ CHARTER VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 2 | SPRING 2025 “Last year, we had over 3 million visitors to Alaska, which is a record for us. Those visitors are spending $3.9 million directly with businesses in Alaska communities which resulted in $157 million in revenue to the state of Alaska through different taxes and fees and that number only includes what is paid by out-of-state visitors.” — Jillian Simpson, President and CEO of the Alaska Travel Industry Association
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==