Ketchikan's new tourism board will not seat the cruise lines, or rule on whether tourism has grown too fast

Ketchikan's first Tourism Advisory Board will not seat the cruise line agencies, and it will not judge whether the industry has grown too fast, which stays with the council. The city council's ad hoc committee settled both Monday, Sept. 21, finishing the board's rules.

The board will advise on an industry that brought Ketchikan 1.52 million cruise passengers in 2025, of 1,608,890 visitors in all, both slightly down on 2024. The city puts cruise visitor spending near $180.4 million, using 2023 data.

Nine will sit on the board, five make a quorum, and more than three unexcused absences in 12 months forfeits a seat. Two seats are at-large, one is tied to Indigenous and cultural heritage, and others go to the industry. The city manager and the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau manager would sit ex officio, by virtue of their jobs. How the rest divide is not published.

Ketchikan adopted a five-year tourism strategy in 2023. On June 4 the council voted 7-0 to postpone a $290,000 Berth I expansion design contract for a year, after what the minutes call a lengthy discussion of the community's capacity for tourists.

"They're just bringing information to the city council for the city council to act on," the committee's chair said Monday. It targets November for formation and meets next October 5 at 6 p.m., place not yet published.