Ballot proposition would have reduced cruise ship days BY TIM BRADNER A BALLOT PROPOSITION THAT WOULD HAVE REDUCED THE DAYS THAT CRUISE SHIPS CAN VISIT JUNEAU HAS BEEN DEFEATED, TO THE RELIEF OF THE LOCAL BUSINESS COMMUNITY AND TOUR OPERATORS. Proposition 2, eliminating ship visits on Saturdays and the Fourth of July, was failing with over 3,873 “no” votes to about 2,600 “yes” votes. The question was on the City and Borough of Juneau election ballot. Eliminating a Saturday visit would have cut $30 million in visitor spending from Juneau’s economy, affecting 440 local businesses, and $4 million in municipal tax and fee revenues. Annually, cruise ships contribute $18 million in taxes and fees to the municipal government and create about 4,000 jobs. For cruise companies, the problem Proposition 2 would have created is a disruption of a ship schedules. If Juneau were eliminated for a day, where would the ship go? Although defeated this year, the issue will be back. The strength of the “yes” vote indicates that the proposal will be back again, and industry officials are girding for future fights. Meanwhile, it’s a little early for firm data, but tourism operators say the 2024 summer visitor season appears to be about level with 2023, a year that did show growth. Cruise ships, the big driver in the visitor industry, are expected to bring about 1.7 million passengers north this year, about even with last year, cruise operators say. There’s mixed data on independent travelers, but one trend is that those visiting are spending more this year. Visitors to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, mostly independents, accounted for 20 percent of consumers’ discretionary spending in the region in August, up from 16 percent in the same month last year. That’s according to credit card data tracked by the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau. Winter tourism is doing well and the coming season is poised to grow both in Mat-Su and in Interior Alaska. September marks the start of the “Aurora” season in Interior Alaska, when the skies get dark enough to see the Northern Lights. With aurora-watching a key winter attraction, Fairbanks saw an increase in its 2024 January-through-May municipal hotel/motel “bed tax” revenues of 31 percent, according to Explore Fairbanks, the regional visitor marketing bureau. However, rising prices for lodging accounts for some of that. Daily room rates from January through June in Fairbanks averaged $188, a 16 percent increase over the average of $162 for January through June 2023. Fairbanks hotel and motel occupancy rates averaged 68 percent for the January through June period, a slight decrease from 70 percent for the comparable period of 2023. Short term rentals in Fairbanks increased by 27 percent last winter and spring, tracking a similar increase in Mat-Su. The average daily rate for short-term rentals in Fairbanks was up 54 percent for the winter period, increasing from $122 per day in 2023 to $188 per day in 2024, McCrea said. Local bed tax revenues in the peak winter tourism months of March and April revenues were $518,024 and $504,388, which is almost half of the peak summer revenues of $1 million to $1.1 million per month. In contrast, the November through February bed tax revenues were in the $350,000 range per month. Visitor data on independent travel is mixed. The overall impression among tour operators is that it is generally flat, but Explore Fairbanks said combined air arrivals and departures at Fairbanks International Airport were up 6 percent, which is slightly above pre-pandemic 2019 for the period. Another indicator for independent travel in the Interior is Alaska Railroad ridership, which was up 9 percent from January through July compared with the same months of 2023. In another development, the National Park Service said tourism to Alaska’s National Parks, a key attraction, rebounded last year to pre-pandemic levels. About 3.3 million visitors visited Alaska’s 23 national parks in 2023, spending about $1.5 billion during their visits, the park service said. Total Alaska economic impacts of the national parks reached $2.3 billion, the park service said. www.AKRDC.org 37 VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 3 | FALL 2024 TOURISM: JUNEAU BALLOT MEASURE DEFEATED
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