tourism

The U.S., Alaska state flag, and Canada flag wave in the wind in Skagway on Monday, June 16, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)

Southeast Alaska and the Yukon are neighbors, but fear of being stuck between causes trip cancellations

Racing to find common ground across the border

 

Local musician Silas Luke Jones performs blindfolded during his performance at the inaugeral HomerFest on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska on Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)

Inaugural ‘HarborFest’ draws hundreds to Spit over weekend

The inaugural event was aimed at bringing tourists into the area during the slower, early summer season.

 

Member Tom Tougas, far right, speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Tourism Industry Working Group in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Tourism working group rejects bed tax, recommends seasonal sales tax adjustment

The document includes a section that says the borough could alternatively leave its tax structure exactly as it is.

 

The Oceania Riviera stands out against a bluebird sky at the Homer Harbor on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. Over 1200 passengers from aboard the boat explored Homer throughout the beautiful day. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)

Homer tourism season kicks off with arrival of cruise ships

The first cruise ship of the season arrived April 28 with 930 passengers.

The Oceania Riviera stands out against a bluebird sky at the Homer Harbor on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. Over 1200 passengers from aboard the boat explored Homer throughout the beautiful day. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)
Member Tom Tougas speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Tourism Industry Working Group in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Tourism working group gets 2-month extension

In a 3-3 vote, the working group had earlier this month rejected a draft document with proposed recommendations.

Member Tom Tougas speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Tourism Industry Working Group in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Member Tom Tougas speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Tourism Industry Working Group in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Tourism Industry Working Group holds 1st meeting

The group organized and began to unpack questions about tourism revenue and identity

Member Tom Tougas speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Tourism Industry Working Group in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Duane Bannock speaks to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Borough’s tourism industry working group takes shape

The group will explore the effects of a potential bed tax

Duane Bannock speaks to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Assembly Vice President Tyson Cox speaks during a Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly work session in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Applications open for working group tasked with exploring bed tax

Of the group’s seven voting members, four will be members of the public and three will be representatives of the tourism industry

Assembly Vice President Tyson Cox speaks during a Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly work session in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Assembly Vice President Tyson Cox speaks during a Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly work session in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Assembly OKs new Tourism Industry Working Group

Another resolution was considered in June that would have added a bed tax question to the October ballot

Assembly Vice President Tyson Cox speaks during a Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly work session in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
The borough’s welcome sign greets drivers as they enter the Kenai Peninsula on Milepost 75 of the Seward Highway, on Sunday, May 5, 2019, near Turnagain Pass, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Borough to include cities in tourism promotion materials

Borough code doesn’t allow the borough to promote city-specific tourism without entering into a partnership with that city

The borough’s welcome sign greets drivers as they enter the Kenai Peninsula on Milepost 75 of the Seward Highway, on Sunday, May 5, 2019, near Turnagain Pass, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Visitor guides await travelers at the Kenai Municipal Airport, Thursday, June 20, 2019, in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion file)

Kenai Peninsula tourists trending older, staying longer

Tourism is bouncing back from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic

Visitor guides await travelers at the Kenai Municipal Airport, Thursday, June 20, 2019, in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion file)
Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire An Alaska Coach Tours bus sits parked beside the cruise ship dock in downtown Juneau. Alexandra Pierce, the CBJ tourism manager, said this year’s season went “relatively smoothly” and said the revival of tourism was overall well received by the residents and downtown businesses.

Final cruise ship of 2022 leaves Juneau

Capital city says farewell to its last ship of the season

Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire An Alaska Coach Tours bus sits parked beside the cruise ship dock in downtown Juneau. Alexandra Pierce, the CBJ tourism manager, said this year’s season went “relatively smoothly” and said the revival of tourism was overall well received by the residents and downtown businesses.
Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire The Norwegian Bliss arrives Monday in Juneau, the first cruise of the 2022 season.

2022 cruise season begins in Juneau

Visitors and Juneau locals alike were excited for the arrival

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire The Norwegian Bliss arrives Monday in Juneau, the first cruise of the 2022 season.
Peter Segall / Juneau Empire Protesters critical of the cruise ship industry gathered Monday on the steps of the Alaska State Capitol, the same day the first large ship of the season arrived in Juneau. Demonstrators said the industry had a poor environmental record and called on the state to continue to Ocean Rangers program, a voter-approved initiative which put state monitors aboard ships to ensure compliance with state regulations.

Protesters call for more enforcement of environmental regulations aboard ships

As cruise ships return, some residents remain wary.

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire Protesters critical of the cruise ship industry gathered Monday on the steps of the Alaska State Capitol, the same day the first large ship of the season arrived in Juneau. Demonstrators said the industry had a poor environmental record and called on the state to continue to Ocean Rangers program, a voter-approved initiative which put state monitors aboard ships to ensure compliance with state regulations.
This Sept. 7, 2007, file photo shows Royal Caribbean’s “Radiance of the Seas” docked in Seward, Alaska. Gov. Mike Dunleavy during a press conference Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, proposed $5 million in new funding for Alaska’s tourism industry with money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz, File)

State seeks to give tourism boost with federal funds

The funds, from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, will be included in the governor’s fiscal year 2023 budget.

This Sept. 7, 2007, file photo shows Royal Caribbean’s “Radiance of the Seas” docked in Seward, Alaska. Gov. Mike Dunleavy during a press conference Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, proposed $5 million in new funding for Alaska’s tourism industry with money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz, File)
With a shortened cruise season rapidly approaching, companies are working to get ready and staff seasonal positions up and running. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Shaping up, shipping in: Southeast tour companies eagerly readying for shortened season

Even if it’s a short season, it’ll set them up for success in 2022, companies say.

With a shortened cruise season rapidly approaching, companies are working to get ready and staff seasonal positions up and running. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
Visitors depart from the Baranoff Hotel in downtown Juneau on Thursday, June 3, 2021, just days after the typically year-round hotel reopened its doors after closing for the COVID-19 pandemic. Travelers are returning, hoteliers say, but many of their rooms remain empty. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Visitors numbers rebound, but hotel vacancies remain high

Hotels, motels, nobody’s in.

Visitors depart from the Baranoff Hotel in downtown Juneau on Thursday, June 3, 2021, just days after the typically year-round hotel reopened its doors after closing for the COVID-19 pandemic. Travelers are returning, hoteliers say, but many of their rooms remain empty. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
A fishing vessel is dwarfed by the Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Norwegian Jewel and Norwegian Pearl in Juneau’s downtown harbor in September 2014. The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a bill that could allow cruise ships to come to Alaska. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

U.S. Senate passes bill that could allow cruise ships to come to Alaska

It now heads to the House.

A fishing vessel is dwarfed by the Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Norwegian Jewel and Norwegian Pearl in Juneau’s downtown harbor in September 2014. The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a bill that could allow cruise ships to come to Alaska. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Gov. Mike Dunleavy sent a letter to the White House asking for federal action to get cruise ship passengers, like the ones seen here in this 2017 file photo, back in Alaska. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file)

Dunleavy asks White House to allow cruises

It’s not just tourism.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy sent a letter to the White House asking for federal action to get cruise ship passengers, like the ones seen here in this 2017 file photo, back in Alaska. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file)
House lawmakers are hoping to see at least some cruise ship passengers like these seen in this Sept. 2017 file photo, and passed a resolution urging Congress and the president to take action on behalf of Alaska's tourist sector. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

House OKs resolution urging federal action on cruises

Juneau’s lawmakers say tourism needed for Southeast.

House lawmakers are hoping to see at least some cruise ship passengers like these seen in this Sept. 2017 file photo, and passed a resolution urging Congress and the president to take action on behalf of Alaska's tourist sector. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)