VOLUME 3 | ISSUE 2 | JUNE 2026
ALASKA TOURISM REMAINS AN ECONOMIC DRIVER
Increased capacity with cruise lines, air carriers bode well for summer BY FIREWEED STRATEGIES
few years is we have a cultural ambassador program where we work with Alaska Native influencers and content creators around the state to share their accounts about their land and their people.” “We conducted national research a cou- ple of years ago and found that people who saw our ads were twice as likely to visit the state in that year.” SUMMER OUTLOOK "It's hard to have a crystal ball and know exactly what will happen but there are some headwinds facing the tourism industry as a whole. There is economic uncertainty right now and when people feel their budgets tightening, the first thing they cut down on is leisure travel. "Certainly the increasing cost of fuel can make people think twice about traveling whether that's air travel or taking a cruise and that can be impacting price structures. "Last year, international travel to the United States was down 5% overall and much of that was driven by Canada. Cana- dian travel to the U.S. was down 22% but it was only down 2% to Anchorage. "On the positive side, there is an in- crease in capacity on both the flight and cruise sides. More supply means more peo- ple will come, especially on cruises. Cruise lines usually don't like to travel with any empty berths. "Alaska is an exotic destination for many people — they think of it as an internation- al destination in many ways because it takes a lot of time and money to get here. What Alaska has working for us is that we're a safe, domestic destination. When there are times with other things happening globally that may hinder travel to other parts of the world, that can benefit Alaska when people still want to take a really good trip instead of going overseas. "The U.S. Travel Association has estimat- ed that about $5 billion in tax refunds from large investments will go into the travel in- dustry, which will circulate up here as well."
news. We’re seeing more cruise lines enter- ing Alaska as well as larger ships.” CULTURAL TOURISM “Cultural tourism is defined as authen- tic, immersive experiences that connect travelers with local history, arts, traditions and lifestyles. Many people as travelers are looking for an immersive authentic expe- rience, across the board. In Alaska, when we talk about cultural tourism, we're spe- cifically talking about Alaskan Indigenous tourism, and it is just exploding ... it's really amazing. “The American Indigenous Tourism Association has identified Indigenous tour- ism as a $12 billion industry in our country. And they talk about it being a powerful tool for cultural preservation, economic devel- opment and community pride, which it certainly is in tourism and I think, in gener- al, is for all of us. There is a lot of investment and development happening right now for the future of cultural tourism, which is a major driver in our state. And we’ve reflect- ed that in our marketing program in recent years, which has really transformed. "We want to make sure that visitors know in advance that Alaska always has been and always will be an Indigenous place, so it's the foundation of our entire marketing program. We have dedicated funding to make sure it is incorporated in all of our advertising and public relations outreach, our website and all of our graphic design work includes it.” “One of the most important shifts that we made with this program was changing it from us talking about cultural tourism, to instead us amplifying and lifting the voices of Indigenous people telling their own story about their own places and about their own people. All of our content is written and created by Indigenous content creators in Alaska. The photography, our website, ar- ticles and any stories that are put out there, those are the people speaking about it. One of the cool things that we have done the last
JILLIAN SIMPSON, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE ALASKA TRAVEL INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION, RECENTLY DISCUSSED
ALASKA TOURISM TRENDS WITH RDC MEMBERS. Here are highlights about what the rest of 2026 and beyond looks like for the travel industry. CRUISE OUTLOOK “There are over 3 million visitors that come to Alaska annually, and it's steadily been increasing over the last few years, with most of our visitors coming in the summer- time. When you look at the breakdown of it, 65% of the visitors who come in the sum- mertime are taking a cruise to Alaska, so it’s still a super critical segment of the industry. The majority of those are taking a roundtrip Inside Passage cruise, but there is a segment that is growing, which is crossing the Gulf of Alaska, and coming to Whittier or Stew- ard, which then opens up the opportunity for them to travel around the rest of the state. “Many visitors come to Alaska for the first time on a cruise because of the ease of traveling here and less travel barriers for people than on international cruises. That’s important because they typically become a repeat visitor to Alaska and may then travel in a different way around the state. When we look at that for Alaska for this coming season, it's going to be important. That sec- tor continues to grow and be important to us. Overall, capacity for the entire state is going to be up this summer, which is great
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ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW JUNE 2026
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