Wasilla to cultivate tourism industry

WASILLA — The city is putting out a bigger welcome mat for visitors.

City Council recently approved a $35,000 investment in the Wasilla Convention and Visitors Bureau, a relatively new addition to promote the local tourism industry. The money is a part of a $100,000 contract issued last summer to focus on Wasilla’s tourism potential.

“It’s my hope that Wasilla will continue to develop a tourism-type industry,” city council member Kristofer Larson said.

Other communities, like those on the Kenai Peninsula, have taken advantage of tourism opportunities and Wasilla should do the same, Larson said. As the city CVB builds its foundation in Wasilla, the council will continue to monitor its progress and determine how long the city should support the program.

The Wasilla Convention and Visitors Bureau was started last summer after the city awarded the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce a contract to create the tourism bureau, said Cheryl Metiva, executive director for the chamber and vice president of the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is a separate organization.

Although a Mat-Su CVB has been in place to promote the Mat-Su Valley’s tourism potential, Metiva said the introduction of Wasilla CVB is an important part of promoting the city more directly.

“The reason for developing a Wasilla visitors bureau is that we need to take ownership of our own community and work on marketing Wasilla as its own destination,” Metiva said. “If we rely wholly and solely on the Mat-Su CVB to do that for us, we’re not going to get the full bang for the buck because that’s not their mission.”

As its name suggests, the Mat-Su CVB focuses its tourism efforts on a Mat-Su Borough level, Metiva said. Although Wasilla falls in the coverage area of that CVB, a Wasilla bureau is needed to put the focus on what Wasilla has to offer.

Currently, Wasilla experiences a lot pass-through tourism, where tourists stop for a brief time in Wasilla to fill up on gas or food, then continue on to places like Denali or Anchorage, Metiva said. A prime example of the pass through is seen at the Iditarod Trail Headquarters. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the headquarters often receives five to eight motor coaches full of tourists a day, but after the tour concludes its Iditarod stop, those tourists often leave the Valley.

“If we can work with the Iditarod and keep a strong partnership together we can capitalize on that,” Metiva said. “Instead of coaches rolling into Iditarod then going on their way up the road, let’s get them to spend the night here, go to Iditarod and build in some other experiences.”

Visitors and residents have numerous activities and opportunities they can experience in Wasilla, Metiva said. Whether it’s hiking at Hatcher Pass or learning about the history of the city at the Dorothy Page Museum, there’s no shortage of local opportunities.

Although the focus of the tourism bureau is to promote Wasilla, Metiva also sees potential to develop relationships with other cities. With communities like Valdez only 45 minutes away by plane, Wasilla would make a good base camp for those exploring Southcentral Alaska.

“Our goal is to develop Wasilla as a hub and spoke experience,” she said. “What we want to do is create overnight stays based in Wasilla with people doing day trips from here.”

Local businesses like Grasshopper Aviation help make that happen. Based out of Wasilla Municipal Airport, Grasshopper Aviation is an air taxi service that specializes in flightseeing adventures, said Dave Glenn, owner of the business.

Grasshopper Aviation provides an array of opportunities for air-bound tourists, Glenn said. Not only does the company take customers to ideal destinations in and around the Wasilla area, it also flies customers to places like Prince William Sound. Although some of the sightseeing and hunting trips take visitors out of the Wasilla area, many return to after a day of adventure.

With tourism being a big part of his business, Glenn said he hopes having a Wasilla tourism bureau will have huge positive impact on his business and other Wasilla-based companies.

“If we get [tourists] out here everybody is going to benefit,” Glenn said.

For a company like Grasshopper Aviation, creating a local convention and visitors bureau could have many benefits, he said. As a small business owner, sometimes it’s hard to establish relationships with larger hotels or companies that could provide a lot of business. The addition of a local visitors bureau could help develop those relationships.

“I can only do so much as a mom-and-pop operation,” Glenn said. “With a CVB, we’ll get a bigger spread and be able to promote our business to a lot more people.”

Metiva said the chamber has been working hard to get the tourism bureau up and running. The chamber is renovating its railroad station offices to make room for an assortment of information and amenities for tourists. Some of those amenities include a WiFi hot spot and Internet-ready computer access. In addition to renovations, the chamber is working on a bureau Web site (www.visitwasilla.org) and an informative DVD that will highlight activities and events in Wasilla. The goal is to have the Web site, DVD and renovations complete by Memorial Day weekend.

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.