A recent report by the McDowell Group prepared for the State Department of Commerce showed overall visitor volume increased by 2% in Alaska between May and September of 2012. Cruise ship visitors increased by 6%, while air travelers decreased by 4% and highway/ferry traffic was essentially flat.
Cruise ships continue to be the preferred method of travel for Alaska visitors, accounting for 59% of summer visitors last year. Air travel represented 37%, while 4% entered the state via the highway or ferry. Together, this accounted for 1.59 million out-of-state visitors to Alaska in the five peak summer months. The additional seven months of the slower season bring the total to roughly two million.
Cruise ship volume has increased for two consecutive years, but is still 9% lower than the peak of over one million passengers in 2008. Last year was helped by an additional Princess ship and more volume on Holland America. Alaska was hurt when the smaller company Cruise West went out of business in 2010.
Air travel has also been impacted by the national recession. Though it decreased 4% last year, overall air travel is 15% higher than the low seen in 2009, at 580,500 visitors.
Highway and ferry travel is a much smaller portion of the visitor level, accounting for only 69,100 people last summer. This is 19% lower than the recent high in 2006. Higher fuel prices over this period have made the long drive much more expensive and likely reduced this method in favor of others.
The report states that bed taxes were up in every community survey. Collections increased 6% in Anchorage, 17% in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, 10% in the Mat-Su and 9% in Juneau. This statistic will also include taxes generated by resident travelers and can be impacted by changes in room rates.
Despite increase in bed tax collections, vehicle rental tax revenues were down in Anchorage by 6%. The report hypothesizes that cruise travelers transiting through Anchorage are not as likely to rent a car as independent air travelers. RV rental taxes also declined by 5% last year.
Click here to download the complete report, along with comparable winter statistics.
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