Tourism
RSSCruise industry, Denali visitor economy, aurora tourism, guided hunting/fishing tourism, head tax and bed tax fights
Seward council approves $11.8 million in shore power contracts for cruise dock
Seward approved nearly $12 million for a giant battery and dock design so plugged-in cruise ships don't dim the lights in town. The EPA grant is paying.
by Walter AlaskaNews9h ago2 min read
Ketchikan's new tourism board will not include the cruise line agencies
Ketchikan is seating a tourism board without the cruise agencies on it. Whether the industry has grown too fast stays with the city council.
by Walter AlaskaNews5d ago2 min read
North Pole's bed tax collections are up 137% and headed for a record year
North Pole's bed tax collections more than doubled this year, likely because short-term rentals are finally paying up. A magazine also called it charming.
by Alaska News6d ago2 min read
Sacred Acre electronic music festival runs through Sunday in Ninilchik
Sacred Acre, an electronic music festival in Ninilchik produced by Cosmic Ayre Productions, runs through Sunday, Sept. 13. Three-day general-admission tickets were listed at $215 plus taxes and fees, with shuttle service available from Anchorage. The festival's website publishes no lineup for this year.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Ketchikan borough seeks proposals for Herring Cove neighborhood plan
Ketchikan borough voted to hire a planning firm for Herring Cove, where 55,000 to 60,000 annual visitors overwhelm a site with no sidewalks, restrooms, or bear-proof trash bins.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago2 min read
Juneau is weighing its first cap on whale watch operators
Juneau has never capped its whale watch fleet. The task force weighing whether to start is the same one weighing cruise ship passenger limits.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Juneau's five-ship cruise cap moves toward city code
Juneau's five-ship-a-day cruise cap would move from a negotiated agreement into enforceable city code under an ordinance advanced Monday.
by Walter AlaskaNews4w ago2 min read
Cordova's visitor numbers support 0.03 of a tourism liquor license. Rounded up, that is one.
Copper River Brewing seeks Cordova's first seasonal tourism liquor license, which would let families dine and hear live music April through September if the state approves it Sept. 1.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A Juneau task force wants congestion data to support limiting cruise calls
A Juneau task force wants a congestion study, partly to support a case for limiting cruise ship port calls. A cap ordinance is already pending.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
Juneau task force weighs reviving 2001 heliport study that projected 6,037 homes out of noise corridors
Juneau's Visitor Industry Task Force will decide Thursday whether to update a 2001 study that found moving helicopter tours could remove 6,037 homes from noise corridors.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
A new casino has opened on North Douglas, as a cruise dock nearby prepares to bring more ships
Tlingit & Haida has opened Two Coppers Casino, a Class II gaming hall on North Douglas, as nearby cruise docks prepare to bring more ships, with both set for a Douglas Advisory Board briefing.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska's cruise ship wastewater permit expired in 2019 and is still in force
Twenty-eight cruise ships discharged treated wastewater in Alaska last season under a 2014 permit that expired in 2019. Nine discharges were unauthorized.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Juneau tourism task force takes final public testimony Oct. 15
Juneau's tourism task force set a second testimony session for Oct. 15, pushed back so residents can read the draft recommendations before speaking.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Kodiak wants your best shot of the biggest bears on Earth for its visitor guide
Kodiak's visitor-guide photo contest is open, led by the Kodiak brown bear — the biggest bear on Earth. Seven categories, $200 each, through Oct. 1.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Juneau's task force weighs crowding fixes amid a bigger question on how much tourism is enough
Juneau's tourism task force votes Thursday on downtown crowd fixes — a roundabout, crossing guards, Seawalk changes — the visible edge of its bigger question: how much cruise tourism is enough.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A Whittier man trying to sell booze on a family glacier-tour boat
A Whittier man is fighting a plan to serve alcohol on the family Ptarmigan glacier-tour boat, which has run dry for decades. The Assembly decides by Aug. 15.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
Juneau's casino opened on shifting ground and now faces suits on two fronts
Juneau's tribal casino opened through a federal opening since rescinded, and now faces the state, a family lawsuit and doubt about whether it's even legal.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Cruise ships come to St. Paul as the island rebuilds after the crab crash
Five cruise ships are headed to St. Paul Island as the Unangax̂ community seeks new footing after its snow crab economy collapsed, leaving a $2.7M hole.
by Alaska News2mo ago1 min read
Juneau's fifth cruise dock clears a federal hurdle
Juneau's contested fifth cruise dock cleared another hurdle: a federal permit for the pile-driving that will disturb sea lions in Gastineau Channel.
by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read
Hoonah just locked in 15 years of Disney ships
A Tlingit village of under a thousand people just guaranteed itself 15 years of Disney cruise ships — one a week through 2041.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Glacial outburst flood destroys 100 feet of Fish Creek bear platform near Hyder
A glacial outburst flood destroyed over 100 feet of the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site platform near Hyder, forcing the Forest Service to close the bear and salmon viewing facility.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Roald Amundsen brings 530 passengers to Kodiak on August 2
Cruise ship Roald Amundsen docks in Kodiak on August 2 with 530 passengers for a nine-hour port call.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Juneau Assembly to take up ordinance making 5-ship cruise limit enforceable law
Juneau Assembly will introduce an ordinance July 27 to make the five-large-cruise-ship-per-day limit a binding municipal law instead of a voluntary agreement.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
DNR moves to lease four acres near Valdez to adventure tourism operator Black Ops Valdez
DNR is leasing four acres near Valdez to Black Ops Valdez for heli-skiing and backcountry tours, but the deal faces a competitive bidding process if the public objects during the comment period.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Tlingit & Haida leaders ask tourists to stop using totem poles as social media props
Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian leaders are asking tourists to stop using totem poles as social media backdrops, saying the carved poles hold sacred stories and ancestors, not Instagram props.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Denali proposes a daily vehicle cap on its previously restricted road
Denali wants to swap its seasonal vehicle cap for a daily one — 160 a day on the restricted road. Comment by Friday if you've got thoughts.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Whale watching incident in Coghlan Cut prompts operator inquiry at Juneau task force
A whale watching incident in Coghlan Cut prompted Juneau's Visitor Industry Task Force to request details on which operators use the waterway under voluntary oversight programs.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Eaglecrest interviews GM finalist, holds Goldbelt conversation amid $1.9M deficit
Eaglecrest interviewed its sole general manager finalist and met with potential partner Goldbelt as the ski area faces a $1.9 million deficit and pressure to balance its budget by November.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read
Juneau task force takes up cruise cap criteria Thursday, with dock pressure looming
Juneau's task force meets Thursday to draft criteria for future cruise passenger cap changes, with a potential dock expansion by Goldbelt poised to test those rules.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read
Juneau tourism task force faces a fork: which planning model fits the capital?
Juneau's Visitor Industry Task Force will choose July 16 among three tourism planning models, each with different timelines and budgets ranging from seven to 18 months.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Juneau weighs what kind of cruise town it wants to be
Juneau's tourism task force is drafting criteria for whether its cruise-ship limits should ever change — with Goldbelt's proposed new docks adding pressure to the question.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Southeast Alaska ports share a pattern: residents want stable or reduced cruise volumes
Residents across six Southeast Alaska cruise ports say tourism helps the economy but has limits, and most want stable or fewer visitors, not growth.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago3 min read
Juneau isn't changing its cruise caps — it's deciding how to decide
Juneau's tourism task force isn't touching its cruise ship limits yet — it's building the criteria future officials would use to change them, with new docks looming as the pressure point.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Sitka sets new ground rules for its cruise-season crush
Up to 7,000 cruise passengers a day hit a town of 8,000 — so Sitka rolled out new (voluntary) ground rules to keep the visitor boom from wearing on the people who live there.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A fin whale's death near Seward reopens Alaska's vessel-speed debate
A pregnant fin whale that died of a vessel strike was found on a Royal Caribbean ship's bow near Seward. Investigators haven't said which vessel struck it.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Foreign-visitor park fee survives a House vote, with stakes for Alaska
A House panel kept a $100 surcharge on foreign park visitors — $400 for a family of four. Alaska's gateway towns, which live on summer tourists, are watching.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A renewed federal fund to fix public lands could land hardest in Alaska
Alaska has more parkland than any state. A House panel advanced a renewed fund to chip at a $46B repair backlog — after a scrap over a foreign-tourist fee.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A Hoonah Corporation Quietly Builds a Cruise Empire
Huna Totem Corporation, the Alaska Native village corporation for Hoonah, is expanding its cruise business by adding its own vessels to a fleet that already operates ports across Southeast Alaska.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Juneau moves to extend its seawalk to the farthest cruise dock
Juneau's spent 20 years building a waterfront path it still can't finish. Now it wants the stretch to the far cruise dock. Mind the gap.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Juneau clerk certifies 1% seasonal sales tax petition, Assembly has 45 days to act
Juneau citizens got a 1% seasonal sales tax to the brink of the ballot. The Assembly has 45 days to pass it or let voters do it.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read