ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW WINTER 2025 38 Interior seeing more visitors, spurring a rise in local tax revenue BY TIM BRADNER WINTER TOURISM HAS BEEN GOOD FOR FAIRBANKS. AURORA VIEWING HAS BEEN THE PRIME SELLING POINT FOR SEVERAL YEARS, BUT TOUR OPERATORS AND LODGES ARE NOW ADDING EXTRA ACTIVITIES INCLUDING DOG SLEDDING AND ICE FISHING TO ENHANCE THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE. More hotels and restaurants are able to stay open year-round now with increased winter visitors, which makes those facilities available for local residents and visiting family. Many Alaska communities bustle with visitors in the summer but go quiet in winter. Not so in Fairbanks. While international visitors mainly from Asia were a mainstay for many years for winter Aurora watching, the market is now diversified to be mostly domestic U.S. tourists, but with an interesting twist. Asians from overseas are still prominent but many are younger and living in the United States, including college students who like to take their winter and spring breaks getting a unique experience in Alaska’s cold Interior. They tend to do this rather than follow their American fellow students south to warmer climates and the beaches. What’s also interesting is that winter visitors tend to come from affluent backgrounds and have money to spend, including the college students. “This is a good, solid demographic for us. These people have money to spend and they are adventurous in spirit,” said Scott McCrea, President and CEO of Explore Fairbanks. There was a time before the COVID-19 pandemic when there were direct air charters to Fairbanks from cities in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and even China. Those stopped during the pandemic and have not restarted. But winter visitors from Asia and Europe still make their way to Fairbanks with flights to the United States and then Alaska, a testament to the strong draw on the Interior winter and its Aurora. There are major differences between summer and winter visitors. Summer visitors often come in tour packages with several destinations on their Alaska itinerary. That means there are relatively few days in Fairbanks. “In winter, almost all the time is in Fairbanks and the Interior, so there are more hotel nights and time for shopping,” McCrea said. McCrea cited a report that one Fairbanks retailer, a gift shop operator, now does more business in peak winter than in the summer months. Winter visitors patronize the major Fairbanks hotels and well-known Chena Hotel Springs Resort, but winter tourism has also helped new businesses start, such as Borealis Base Camp, on the Elliot Highway north of the Interior city, which houses visitors in small, heated enclosures with transparent ceilings to watch the Aurora. FAIRBANKS BUSTLING WITH WINTER TOURISM Photo Courtesy Explore Fairbanks Fairbanks has enjoyed an increase in winter visitors in recent years, helping to keep hotels booked and tax revenue increasing since the pandemic.
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