As Alaska faces the grim reality of another summer season without big-ship cruising — the source of half the state’s visitors — travel industry representatives gathered in late April for an educational virtual conference, showcasing the many options still available for travelers headed to The Last Frontier.
The slogan of the day: “Make 2021 Your Alaska Year.”
“Alaska is open and doing an exceptional job managing the pandemic,” said Sarah Leonard, president and CEO of the Alaska Travel Industry Association (ATIA). “Partly because we know how to socially distance in our wide-open spaces, but mostly because our state did a phenomenal job with the vaccine rollout.”
In her State of the State Tourism Industry address, Leonard painted an image of what Alaska has lost during the pandemic, while also detailing the road to recovery. In 2019, more than 52,000 Alaskans depended on tourism jobs. In Southeast Alaska alone, the industry was on track to become the largest economic sector in 2020, after the previous year saw over 1.44 million people visit the region, spending more than $800 million.
The pandemic, of course, changed all that, and Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy estimates that the canceled cruise seasons alone will result in a $3.3 billion loss to Alaska’s gross domestic product (GDP).
But the news shared at the conference was not all bad. With more than 40% of the adult population over age 16 already vaccinated, Alaska is enticing visitors with an offer to get their own shots while on vacation.
“It’s going to help to a great extent in having people look at Alaska as a destination to come to this summer,” Gov. Dunleavy said in his own address at the conference.
Increased airlift will also play a role in bringing more visitors, with Fairbanks International Airport forecasted to see a 126% increase in seat capacity over 2020. And nonstop routes headed to Anchorage’s airport are nearly back to pre-COVID-19 levels.
According to Leonard, however, the most important takeaway is that Alaska has several land-based and even small-ship cruising options still available, a key point as independent travelers will play a major role in the state’s recovery.
“We don’t have actual booking data, but anecdotally, we hear from many lodges and land operators that the phones are ringing,” Leonard said. “A typical number of visitors this summer — on par with what we had in 2019 — would be a drop in the bucket toward getting back on track.”
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Alaska Travel Industry Association
