Mat-Su may be weathering downturn in visitors better than other regions

The Mat-Su region may be escaping some of the tourism downturn afflicting other parts of the state.

Visitor spending this summer appears to be down about 2.5% from last year, according to Casey Ressler, CEO of the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau. But that’s less of a decline than was estimated earlier and less than is being felt in other regions of the state like Anchorage and Fairbanks, he said.

Visitors are down this summer due to consumers’ worries over the general economy and inflation and also the effect on international travel created by President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, where foreign tourists are sometimes delayed and detained at airport entry points.

Ressler isn’t clear why Mat-Su is doing slightly better than other regions but he suspects it may be an effect of Alaskans deciding to forego vacation travel to the Lower 48 and overseas and instead vacationing in Alaska, including the Mat-Su, he said.

“In the last 90 days, 25% of all spending in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough came from visitors from outside the borough, including Anchorage,” Ressler said. “Of this, 28% of all restaurant spending was by visitors and 22% of all retail purchases.”

The data comes through information services that analyze credit card “swipes,” or transactions. The typical visitor to Mat-Su spends about $153 daily for purchases not including accommodations, he said.

Short-term rentals in Mat-Su, mostly through bed and breakfast-type establishments, are up, however, as are revenues generated through short-term rentals. For the year-to-date there have been 153,397 room-nights in short-term rentals, up 14.25% from the same period last year, Ressler said. The revenue generated is up 20.7%.

Such conflicting data may be difficult to explain but it may be a case of more visitors coming to Mat-Su, as seen in the short-term rental data, but who are spending less out-of-pocket on meals, recreation and other expenditures aside from lodging, Ressler said.

Also,higher per-night rates on short-term rentals may be cutting into visitors’ budgets for other spending. When revenues increase faster than rooms being rented it means the per-night rates are rising.

Anchorage is experiencing a somewhat flat visitor season too, with a slight decrease in spending. However, motel and motel revenues through June appear to be similar to the same period of 2024, according to Julie Saupe, CEO of Visit Anchorage, the local tourism association. Last year saw $49 million in municipal “bed taxes” paid, a record amount, Saupe said.

The trend so far would indicate a similar amount of tax revenue in 2025, but it’s too early to really know. Also, while tax revenue is a broad indicator of visitor volumes some of the increase would be due to higher room prices, so that the same number of visitor would result in more taxes paid.

On a related matter, Ressler said the new Gateway Visitor Center for Mat-Su is well along in its construction and now has its walls and roof in place. The building is set to be essentially finished by the end of the year do that interior work, such as on displays, can begin in January, he said. The center will be open in early summer.