Tourism numbers promising

Last week, the Alaska Travel Industry Association held its annual state convention and two speakers — U.S. Sen. Mark Begich and ATIA CEO Ron Peck — shared information that is encouraging for the tourism industry, both on a state and national level.

Begich reported that nationally, tourism has grown employment numbers for nine consecutive months and that studies have indicated tourism is one of the first industries to experience growth coming out of hard economic times.

“Tourism is 30 percent faster at job creation than other industries,” Begich told the crowd at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage.

Brand USA, a new national marketing campaign targeting international visitors, is still in its infancy, but it has already shown success in increasing visitation among foreign visitors. Getting them to Alaska is the important next step, and the state has several international marketing efforts planned in key countries during the coming months to do just that.

We have seen growth in the last year, Peck indicated. While the Alaska Visitors Statistics Program numbers haven’t been released for the summer season, Peck’s predicted numbers have traditionally been very close to the actual count. He predicts Alaska saw 1.61 million visitors during the summer of 2012, which would be an increase from 1.56 million visitors last year during the same time period.

So what does that really mean? For one, it means the cruise industry added passengers, which always affects the overall state numbers. During the summer season, cruise ships had 940,000 passengers, an increase from 880,000 a year ago.

But does that really impact the Mat-Su Valley? You bet it does, and perhaps more than people may imagine.

In fiscal year 2012, the Mat-Su Borough brought in $1.083 million in bed tax revenue (a 5 percent transient accommodations tax), representing an impressive 13.2 percent increase over fiscal year 2011. It’s the first time the bed tax revenue exceeded $1 million since 2009, and it just barely edges out 2009 as the most ever received.

There’s reason to be cautiously optimistic that the numbers will continue to rise in the coming year. Next year, cruise lines are planning more “cross-Gulf of Alaska” cruises that include Southcentral ports as embarkation or debarkation points. That’s very important for the Valley, as those passengers add land packages before or after their ocean voyage, and those packages include Mat-Su attractions and lodging.

It was a very solid tourism season at both the local and state levels, and the pieces are lining up to continue that success in the year to come.

Casey Ressler (casey@alaskavisit.com) is the marketing and communications manager at the Mat-Su CVB.