Sitkans who missed the recent town halls on tourism in Sitka will get another chance to share their opinions on the level of tourism in Sitka. The city’s Tourism Task Force is asking Sitkans to complete a survey to determine the number of cruise tourists the community can support.

At a work session in December, the task force crafted the survey based on information they’d collected so far at a pair of town halls. That data revealed some common ground among Sitkans – most respondents agree that Lincoln Street should remain closed on busy days for example. And if Sitka has dedicated “quiet days” with 1,000 or fewer passengers, most would prefer that “quiet days” occur on the weekend. But on the questions of what an appropriate number of tourists is per day, week, or season, respondents tended to be more polarized. 

Task force member Jim Michener said it was time to narrow down the options – because “zero tourists” and “infinity tourists” aren’t realistic answers. 

“After going through two town halls and getting this information, I think it’s time to try and stick it down,” Michener said. “And I think if our goal with the survey is to try to get a community number, I think we need to focus hard on that, and really limit things into a area that feels like common ground, and ask for opinions on something far narrower than we have been already.”

But task force member Rich McClear wondered if a survey was the best next step regardless. 

“Unless you’ve got a drawn sample that scientifically drawn that bounces demographics, I think it’s G-I-G-O; garbage in garbage out. I just don’t trust surveys if they’re self selected. I think we shouldn’t do it.”

“Well, we need to do it,” responded chair Phyllis Hackett.

(Disclosure: Task force member Rich McClear is co-general manager of KCAW)

Overall, the task force agreed that they needed a survey as another method of collecting feedback from the public, even if it wasn’t a perfect one. 

You can find a link to the survey here. Paper copies are also available at the library. The survey will be open until January 14.  Then the task force will take the data they’ve collected and use it to help them come up with recommendations to present to the assembly next spring, which will likely include a recommendation for a daily number of cruise passengers and an annual total.