Alaska enjoys record visitation

Alaska enjoyed a record number of visitors last summer, according to numbers released by the state of Alaska last week.

Alaska received 1.78 million out-of-state visitors between May and September 2015, according to the recently released Alaska Visitors Statistics Program report. That’s an increase of 7 percent from 2014, and the highest total ever reported by the AVSP. If you dig a little deeper into those numbers, however, one thing is evident – the increase is great news for the Mat-Su Valley economy.

Much of the increase in visitation can be found among those who fly into Alaska, and highway travelers – two segments of the visitor industry that are very important to the Mat-Su Valley. The air market increased 13 percent in 2015, its strongest growth since 2010. There was also a 14 percent increase among visitors who drove to Alaska or utilized the ferry to get here, a big increase that bodes well for the Valley, because those travelers frequently visit Mat-Su.

Internationally, Condor Airlines and Icelandair both posted increases of 5 and 8 percent respectively, showing that state and Mat-Su CVB marketing efforts in Germany and through Icelandair are paying off with increased visitor numbers. Growth in this sector is especially noteworthy because research shows that international visitors tend to stay longer and spend more per day, on average, than their domestic counterparts.

The cruise sector grew by 3 percent over 2014 as well.

So what do all those statistics mean, and why should you care? Well, now more than ever, it’s important for Alaska – and Mat-Su - economy to diversify and not rely on oil revenues alone. A robust and growing visitor industry helps not only tourism businesses, but communities as a whole. Additional visitors bring additional revenue to communities, and those dollars circulate in the form of payroll, goods and services purchased to meet the increased demand, expansion and construction and much more.

It’s great to see record numbers of visitors, but it’s also a cautionary tale – we can’t just sit back and expect them to keep coming. Alaska as a whole has incredible competition from not only other states, but also other countries, in attracting visitors. Marketing is crucial to keeping Alaska competitive, and Alaska had record high tourism marketing budgets between Fiscal Years 2012 and 2015, so we were able to build awareness and interest in visiting Alaska.

Unfortunately, state tourism marketing for the current year has been cut 50 percent and it’s projected to decrease in the FY17 budget. Investing in tourism marketing makes financial sense when you evaluate the return on investment – not only in the number of visitors, but also the positive economic impact those visitors have on Alaska communities such as the Mat-Su Valley.

Casey Ressler (casey@alaskavisit.com) is the marketing and communications manager at the Mat-Su Convention & Visitors Bureau.