Summer was good for Mat-Su’s visitor industry

It has been a good visitor year for Mat-Su businesses. The summer season appears over for the most part, with the fall closure of the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge and the Talkeetna Alaska Lodge being the traditional signals.

The number of visitors to Mat-Su has grown slightly this year, up an estimated 3% in the second quarter compared with second quarter of 2023, according to Casey Ressler, president and CEO of the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau. However, the dollars being spent are up significantly between the two years, he said.

Mat-Su isn’t able to track the actual number of visitors but a good indicator comes from the number of credit card “swipes” when purchases are made. The Mat-Su visitors bureau has the software to track this data, Ressler said.

Where visitors come from and what they spend every day is also available, he said.

While the visitor increase may be modest from 2023 based on credit card data the amount spent is significantly up. As a percent of total credit card spending within Mat-Su visitors accounted for 20% in the second quarter this year, up from 16% in the same period of 2023, according to the data.

Ressler said he suspects higher prices, particularly for lodging, is likely driving up visitor dollars.

Most Mat-Su visitors are from Anchorage or other communities within Alaska but from out-of-state, top places of origin are the Pacific Northwest communities, mainly Seattle and Portland, but Ressler said many visitors also come from Los Angeles, Phoenix and Dallas-Fort Worth, according to the credit card data.

Visitors from Seattle spend $275 per day per person while those from Portland spend $388 per day, according to the data. Pheonix visitors spend $344 per day on average, while those from Dallas-Fort Worth spend $273 per day on average.

The availability of direct flights to Alaska appears to drive visitors from specific Lower 48 cities, Ressler said. For example, American Airlines has seasonal direct service from Phoenix, which no doubt boosts visitation from that region, Ressler said.

In another positive development for Mat-Su the Matanuska-Susitna Borough is now soliciting bids for the planned new visitor center that will be built on the Glenn Highway near the Mat-Su Lakes State Recreation Area.

The new facility is being built with a $6.7 million federal economic development grant, while contributions from the state and Mat-Su Borough helped fund the property acquisition. The engineering and design work was paid using federal pandemic aid money. Wolf Architecture of Palmer is doing the design work.

The new center will provide space for visitors to get information on what to do and where to stay in Mat-Su as well as house the convention and visitor bureau itself, Ressler said.

Another significant development in Mat-Su tourism is the near-explosive growth of short-term rentals during the summer season. There were 1,248 listings for short-term rentals this summer, about double what they were five years ago, Ressler said.

In August, borough “tax” revenue from short-term rentals was up 19 percent from August 2023 while the number of listings was up 17.5%. That the growth of revenues exceeds the listings reflects rising per-night prices.

Short-term rental growth is happening across the nation, driven by new software technology used by companies like Air B&B and VRBO which offer on-line reservation and payment services for property owners.

In many places short-term rentals are putting a squeeze on traditional longer-term rentals which affects companies in tourism who need places to stay for seasonal employees.

Ressler said this doesn’t appear to be a problem now in most of the Mat-Su region but it has posed difficulties in Talkeetna, where housing is limited.