Sitka has seen huge growth in cruise tourism, to nearly 600,000 passengers in 2023 – about a three-fold increase over what would have been considered a big summer before the pandemic. This figure has been in the news a lot lately. But there’s another, more important number that residents haven’t settled on: What is the right amount of cruise tourism?
Sitka’s Tourism Task Force is determined to find out.
Note: The next Town Hall meeting of the Sitka Tourism Task Force will be 4-8 p.m. Thursday, December 7, in Harrigan Centennial Hall. It will be an Open House format, with presentations on the hour. Listen to the full interview with task force members Phyllis Hackett and Camille Ferguson.
If the growth in cruise traffic had been more gradual, Sitka might have found the sweet spot without looking for it. Now, a Tourism Task Force has been charged with finding the “magic number.” They’ve been charged with a list of other things too, but Task Force chair Phyllis Hackett says she got a nudge from city hall to move the overall passenger count to the top of the list.
“And then in October we received a call from the city administrator John leach to bring him a number,” Hackett said, “because Cruise Line International Association and the city are ready to develop an MOA (memorandum of agreement) around this, and they need to have a number. So we started in earnest on that.”
The Task Force was created back in April, and Hackett says a majority of the nine-member group were involved in the industry over the summer, preventing any full meetings until after the season. Hackett said this helped create the space to formulate a plan.
“And it also took time, at least for me –I’m the chair – to wrap our minds around how to go about even gathering a number.”
The Task Force’s first Town Hall meeting was on November 27. Rather than a shouting match, it was a carefully-orchestrated data-gathering exercise, with post-it notes and beans – all of which have been recorded and weighed.
The next Town Hall will be December 7, when these data will be presented and residents will contribute more information toward helping the Task Force narrow down its target.
The Task Force has representatives from various economic segments of the community, but member Camille Ferguson, who represents the Sitka Tribe, says residents should not be overly concerned with that. She wants this process to be human-centered.
“Your relationship between these people are more important than any kind of segment,” Ferguson said. “Just as long as your voice is heard, and you’re sharing your concerns, and in a manner that it will help us come up with that magical number. And I think that’s the most important thing.”
After the Tourism Task Force identifies an appropriate level of cruise tourism for the community, its work will only be 20-percent finished. Other jobs include an annual review of the city’s tourism funding, looking at land use and waterfront development regulations, regional strategies to advance Sitka’s interests in the industry, and helping develop a Tourism Management Best Practices program.
Hackett, a former member of the Sitka Assembly, does not mince words about best practices.
“These are the ways we’d like you to behave and run your businesses, when you’re in Sitka to help all of us – them and us, everybody – work better with what we have.”
Erin Fulton contributed to this story.
Note: For purposes of disclosure, KCAW co-general manager Rich McClear sits on the Tourism Task Force.
