Summer looking good for tourism

I recently returned from the National Tour Association’s Travel Exchange event, as well as the American Bus Association Marketplace, where representatives from Alaska met with national tour operators. Throughout the appointments, one thing was constant — they are excited about the success of their Alaska programs, which is a great sign for the tourism industry for the upcoming season.

At both events, tour operators and Alaska destinations and companies have prescheduled appointments. The two conventions provide an excellent opportunity to influence decision makers to include new products in their Alaska packages.

A lot of the tour operators I met with were very interested in learning more about the South Denali Visitor Center project, something the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau wholeheartedly supports. The operators were interested in another Denali experience they can offer their clients. The proposed visitor center does just that, and it is in the Mat-Su Borough, which will have a positive economic impact for our area.

This summer’s tourism season is expected to increase from last year with the addition of another cruise ship that crosses the Gulf of Alaska into Southcentral. Those cross-Gulf cruises are particularly important to our local tourism industry because those are the travelers who are adding a land component to their cruise, either packaged or independently — many of which stop at various locations in the Mat-Su. With the additional capacity that ship has, it means more cruisers will be making their way to Southcentral.

Equally exciting is the addition of the Icelandair flights from Reyjkavik to Anchorage starting this May. This new route provides additional access for European travelers. Icelandair flies from select European cities to Reykjavik, where travelers can spend a weekend at no additional cost. They can then continue on to Anchorage on a nonstop flight.

Next week, I’ll be in Iceland meeting with tour operators from Europe who are looking to take advantage of this new route. The trip is subsidized by Icelandair, giving Alaskans a very low-cost opportunity to bring in a large amount of European business. That’s great news for the local economy, as international travelers have a tendency to stay longer and spend more per day, research has shown.

The summer season is still months away, but much of the work marketing the state, and specifically the Valley, is in full force right now, including the direct mailing of 50,000 Mat-Su visitor guides to high potential consumers around the country and the mailing of 3,500 visitor guides to top travel agents in the Lower 48. State efforts include a $6 million national television campaign.

Anecdotally, it is sounding like we can expect more visitors than last year, which only helps strengthen the Valley’s economy as those tourism dollars brought from outside churn in our community.

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