Cruise enthusiasts who want to visit Alaska’s capital city of Juneau may have to fight for permission to disembark and go ashore under a new agreement between the city and the major cruise lines that sail there.
An agreement signed last week between Juneau and Alaska’s Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) aims to limit the number of cruise passengers allowed to arrive in Juneau to 16,000 on Sundays through Fridays and 12,000 on Saturdays, starting in 2026.
The move is intended to limit the congestion and wear and tear tourists bring to the city. After two years of declines due to the pandemic, Juneau saw a surge in tourism to a record 1.6 million last year. Other popular cities have taken similar steps to limit tourism and limit the impact on residents’ daily lives. Venice, Italy, for example, became the first city in the world to impose an entrance fee on day-trippers during peak periods in April.
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Alaska’s new agreement aims to limit visitor numbers roughly to current levels.
“The cruise industry is vital to our local economy, and we need to improve infrastructure and increase tour capacity to provide a great guest experience and reduce the impact on our residents,” Juneau Tourism Industry Director Alexandra Pierce said in a statement Tuesday. “This agreement will set caps to manage the busiest days and will meet annually to keep visitor numbers sustainable.”
In Alaska, residents have complained that record numbers of tourists are arriving by helicopter to visit glaciers, exacerbating congestion and noise pollution, but many local businesses depend on the cruise industry and the steady flow of visitors it brings, the city of Juneau acknowledged in a statement.
A cruise ship departs from downtown Juneau along Alaska’s Gastineau Channel on June 7, 2023. Becky Bohler/AP
The cruise season has also been extended from early April to late October, making it almost impossible for year-round residents to escape the presence of tourists.
A separate agreement allows only five large ships to enter the port per day during the current cruise season.
Pierce said other projects currently underway could also reduce tourism’s impact on the city, including installing gondolas at the city’s ski slopes, upgrading the downtown seaside promenade and expanding visitor capacity at Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area.
City leaders are “trying to balance the needs of our residents, the needs of our economy and the needs of future opportunities that will keep people in our community,” she said.
But the agreement has drawn skepticism. Cruise industry commentator Carla Hart says the new measures won’t be enough to curb unsustainable levels of tourism. “It feels like we’re being induced again,” she said, according to the Associated Press. “The growth is going to continue, and it’s going to take more time.”
Hart is the architect of a local ballot proposition that would ban ships with at least 250 passengers from docking in Juneau on Saturdays or the Fourth of July.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report
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