Hoonah just locked in 15 years of Disney ships

A village of fewer than a thousand people on Chichagof Island has secured something few small Alaska towns ever get: a decade and a half of guaranteed customers.

Huna Totem Corporation, the Alaska Native village corporation that owns Icy Strait Point, has signed a 15-year agreement with Disney Cruise Line committing one Disney ship a week through at least 2041, with a minimum number of passengers guaranteed each year. A single Disney ship carries more people than Hoonah has residents.

That matters because Huna Totem is the town's largest employer, and Icy Strait Point is what it built after the old industries left — a destination on the grounds of a 1912 salmon cannery, owned and operated by the Huna Tlingit rather than by an outside company.

"Each Disney Cruise Line visit helps support local jobs, businesses and economic opportunity in Hoonah," said Howard Sherman, who leads Huna Totem's tourism arm.

The deal also ties much of Hoonah's economic future to a single industry and a single partner. Disney went to two ships in Alaska this year and plans to add five more to its fleet by 2031.