As the city grapples with how to ‘right size’ tourism in Sitka, following two record breaking cruise seasons, should it change the goal of its visitor services program? That’s a question the Sitka Assembly will be considering when it meets tonight (1-23-24).
The city contracts out visitor services to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce, which provides those services through Visit Sitka. The city pays the Chamber a base rate of $300,000 a year for these services, often with additional money on top. The main goal the city and the Chamber have agreed upon in the contract is to increase the level of visitor traffic to enhance the economy and maintain tourism businesses in Sitka.
A memo from assembly members JJ Carlson and Kevin Mosher says that this goal deviates from where the assembly currently stands– at last year’s work session with the Chamber, assembly members indicated that they wanted to maintain, rather than grow, current levels of cruise traffic. Carlson and Mosher have asked the assembly to carefully consider whether the current scope of the Visit Sitka contract aligns with present day needs.
In other business, the assembly will also consider the city’s legislative priorities for 2025, and discuss the recruitment of a new municipal attorney, and it will discuss the continued closure of the Katlian Street sidewalk. The Sitka Assembly meets at 6 p.m. tonight. Raven News will broadcast the meeting live, following Alaska News Nightly.
