The last cruise ship of 2024 arrived in Sitka on Monday (10-21-24), on what was arguably one of the nicest days of the “shoulder season.” While cruising is finally winding down, the assembly has two big tourism-related issues on its plate when it meets tonight. The group will consider appointments for the new tourism commission, and it will consider a “Memorandum of Understanding” between the city and the Sitka Dock Company.
An MOU between the city and the cruise industry is one of dozens of recommendations issued by last year’s Tourism Task Force. The MOU the assembly is considering tonight focuses mainly on what the city can do to limit high cruise traffic, rather than restrictions on the cruise dock. Among the terms, the city would agree to prevent ships from docking at city-owned docks on days when allowing those ships would result in the city exceeding 7,000 passengers for the day. Both the city and the dock owner would agree to designate Saturday as a “quiet day” with 1,250 cruise passengers or fewer. To maintain a quiet day, the city won’t allow ships of over 1,000 to dock on Saturdays.
View the MOU here
The assembly will also consider appointments to the city’s tourism commission. Nine Sitkans have applied for seven available seats: Carol Bryant-Martin, Devon Calvin, Austin Cranford, Ian Dempster, Vaughn Hazel, Bethany Lowrance, Chris McGraw, Christine McGraw, and Jeremy Plank. One seat on the commission will be reserved for a representative of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska. STA nominated Martha Moses for that seat.
The Sitka Assembly meets at 6 p.m. tonight. Raven News will broadcast the meeting live, following Alaska News Nightly.
