President Joe Biden and Alaska’s congressional delegation gave the state’s tourism industry a shot in the arm with the signing of legislation that allows cruise ships to return to the Last Frontier this summer.
The Alaska Tourism Restoration Act, which was sponsored by Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, as well as GOP Rep. Don Young, was crafted to waive a provision in federal law that requires most large cruise ships to stop over in Canada before heading to Alaska from Seattle.
The Passenger Vessel Services Act requires that foreign-flagged ships visit at least one foreign port when traveling between states. While the United States is ready to get the cruise ship industry up and running, Canada has banned cruise ships from visiting until 2022, which created the problem that the new legislation has now remedied.
“This is what we’ve all been working towards for months, trying to get some semblance of a tourist season back,” said Murkowski on her way to the White House on Monday. She, Sullivan, and Young huddled together in the Oval Office as part of a private signing ceremony with Biden.
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“Today, I signed the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act into law,” the president said on Twitter. “Tourism is vital to the state of Alaska — and this law will help revitalize the industry and support Alaskans by allowing large cruise ships to return to the state this summer.”
The news is a huge economic boost for Alaska, particularly southeast Alaska, where tourism is a major economic driver and is tied to thousands of jobs.
Jan Jones, hospitality and tourism management program coordinator at the University of New Haven, told the Washington Examiner that the money generated by the cruise ship industry is vital to cities in Alaska where the ships, carrying thousands of tourists eager to spend money, visit while traversing the seas. She said that the revenue is “so important” for the coastal communities.
Cruise ships typically begin arriving in Alaska around early May, although because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no major sailings last year. Cities such as Skagway, Ketchikan, Juneau, and Sitka are all locations that have felt the brunt of the cruise ships’ absence.
Rodney Dial, mayor of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough (which is equivalent to a county), told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that 2020 was a “devastating” year for Ketchikan and that a lot of businesses had lost between 80% and 100% of their revenue for the year.
“Going into another year with absolutely no cruising, we knew that it was going to result in a lot of permanent business closures and permanent damage to the economy,” Dial said.
“Right now, fortunately, there is this little bit of good news, and we hope that, combined with a strong independent traveler season, will allow our businesses to survive, and then we can go into next year, hopefully, start going back up towards more traditional [tourism] numbers,” he added.
For an example of the sheer scale that the cruise ship industry has on small communities, Skagway, which has a population of just a little over 1,000, handles nearly 1.3 million tourists during typical summers. That equates to some $160 million injected into its local economy from the industry each year.
Sullivan, who highlighted the work that the Alaska delegation did to make sure the waiver was passed, said that that the economic devastation caused by the loss of the industry left families on the “brink of ruin.”
“This summer will not be the robust cruise ship season we have had in previous years, or was forecasted this year before the pandemic hit, but there will be ships, and there will be people, and that is excellent for Alaska,” he said in a statement.
During a news conference, White House press secretary Jen Psaki pointed out that the administration worked with three Republicans in order to bring back Alaska cruises this year and framed passage of the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act as an example of “critical bipartisan work” that can get done in Washington.
Not only does the signing of the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act help local businesses in coastal Alaska, but it is also welcome news to cruise ship companies, which employ thousands of workers aboard their massive ships and took a major hit globally during the pandemic, which left empty ships across the world.
Carnival Corp. and plc, the world’s largest cruise company, announced that its Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, and Carnival Cruise Line will begin returning to U.S. service in July, with sailings from Seattle directly to Alaska.
“As one of America’s natural treasures, Alaska is a land of beauty and wonder, and one of the most popular destinations for our guests,” said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corp. “We look forward to our brands restarting this summer from the U.S. while also supporting our longtime partners and the communities in Alaska.”
Royal Caribbean Group also announced that its ships will begin departing Seattle en route to Alaska beginning in July. Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean will require proof of vaccination for all employees and guests who decide to travel aboard their ships.
While this summer’s Alaska cruise season will be greatly diminished from prior to the pandemic, Biden’s signing of the legislation is still a major sigh of relief.
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“It is exactly what we needed at exactly the right time,” Dial, the mayor, said.
