More than 2.7 million people traveled to Alaska last summer, according to new data from the Alaska Travel Industry Association. That number is essentially flat from the previous season.
Geopolitical tensions last year caused some international travelers to cancel their vacations to the United States, and locally, Alaska tourism operators were navigating a puzzle of uncertainty.
Jillian Simpson, president and CEO of the Alaska Travel Industry Association, says those issues influenced the numbers, but less dramatically than she expected. Even so, Simpson said the upcoming season is equally hard to read.
This script has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Jillian Simpson: I think we're in the same boat as last year. There continues to be economic uncertainty in the Lower 48 in particular, and so we're just sort of keeping an eye on it, speaking with some different tour operators [and] they're saying it's okay, that it's nothing strong or dramatic.
We are also watching our international visitors. We're hearing that European travel will probably be flat to Alaska, but we're glad that they're coming. We still have the Condor flight that goes over the pole, and so that's really positive.
You hear a lot of talk about Canadians not traveling to the United States, and so we've been keeping an eye on that, and we are seeing that it's just not having the same impact up here, that there's just a different perception of our destination.
On the positive side, we are seeing an increase in capacity, both in air and in cruise. And so I think when that happens, it can help drive more demand, because the supply is there. So we are hoping that people want to come to Alaska, because they have the opportunity to do that.
Ava White: A lot of smaller communities saw pretty large percentage increases in terms of cruise passengers in 2025, Whittier, Valdez, Wrangell. Klawock had over 400%. What happened there?
JS: Well, Klawock with the 400% increase was 17,000 passengers, so it wasn't an amazing number, but it was really exciting, because it was the first time that they built a new dock there. They really have made the conscious decision that they are interested in tourism to support their community.
In other communities, there's just a little bit of a shift. We're seeing a redistribution of some of the ports that ships are calling on. Some lines are just looking to differentiate themselves from their competition.
For example, every ship used to always go into Juneau, and the community has a memorandum of understanding between the major lines and the community, and they set a limit on the number of ships that could come in. So the lines are responding by checking out newer and different ports.
AW: Juneau sees the most cruise passengers by a pretty sizable margin. But this year, the capital city has caps on the number of ships and passengers, 16,000 people on most days, 12,000 on Saturdays, and they often see over 20,000 people a day. How might this restriction impact long term tourism numbers?
JS: Any time that there is some kind of constriction, it does impact the rest of the state, because people don't come and just go to one place, especially when they're on a cruise – where they can move around.
So what we are seeing for next year, again, is more of a redistribution of the ports that people are going to. Fortunately, Alaska has that availability, that there's new dock space, new docks are being built that can accommodate that, and communities are choosing to welcome cruise passengers into their towns because they know the important economic benefits that result from that.
It can have an impact if it gets too restricted. But I think right now, we're seeing a nice redistribution, which is great.
AW: Looking at the long term trend, cruise ship traffic to the state has increased like 80% since 2015. What's driving that trend? Is it just like those opening doors?
JS: I think so. Globally, you're seeing an increase in cruise travel.
People just really enjoy taking a cruise, and Alaska really benefits from that, because we're definitely one of those special destinations.
Alaska also has a tendency to see first time cruisers, because they're attracted to the destination [and] all that we offer, but also we're in the United States, so it also makes it a little bit more convenient to kind of check out a cruise.
