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Every year, cruise ships flock to Alaska’s capital city to see wonders like the rapidly dwindling Mendenhall Glacier. Now, long-simmering tensions over Juneau’s tourism boom are coming to a head over a new ballot initiative aimed at getting residents to ease up on the influx of tourists.
A measure to ban cruise ships with more than 250 passengers from docking in Juneau on Saturdays is up for a vote on Oct. 1, setting the stage for a debate over how much tourism there is in a city that is experiencing the effects of climate change firsthand. The measure would also bar ships from docking on the Fourth of July, when locals gather downtown for a parade.
The “Boatless Saturdays” initiative passed this week will be put to a vote unless local councils enact similar measures by August 15, which is considered unlikely.
Juneau is accessible only by water or air, but it is home to Mendenhall Glacier, a major attraction for cruise passengers who arrive on tall ships that tower over part of the city’s modest downtown. Many residents of the city of about 32,000 are concerned about increased traffic, crowded roads and the frequent noise of tourist helicopters that ferry visitors to Mendenhall Glacier and other glaciers.
Deborah Craig, a Juneau resident for decades who supports the Saturday boat-free day, said she lives across the channel from where the ship is docked and often hears the early morning foghorns and passenger PA announcements across the water.
Right now, she said, visitor numbers are “overwhelming,” and they take away from what residents love so much about Juneau.
“This is about protecting the lifestyle that allows us to continue to live in Juneau: clean air, clean water, pristine surroundings, easy access to trails, easy access to water sports and nature,” she said of the effort.
“There’s a perception that some people don’t welcome tourists, but that’s simply not true,” Craig said. “It’s a matter of volume. There are too many. Too many tourists in a short amount of time, overwhelming small communities.”
The current cruise season runs from early April to late October.
Opponents of the proposal say the docking limits would hurt local businesses that rely heavily on tourism and could invite lawsuits. In Bar Harbor, Maine, another area with a large tourism economy, a voter-approved limit on the number of cruise ship passengers was challenged in federal court.
Business leader Laura McDonnell, owner of Caribou Crossings, a gift shop in Juneau’s downtown tourist core, said she makes 98 percent of her annual sales in the summer.
Tourism is about “local businesses and our place in the community that depend on cruise ship passengers,” said McDonnell, who is with Protect Juneau’s Future, a group that opposes the plan.
As the local economy faces challenges, several schools have closed recently due to factors including declining enrollment, she said.
“I think as a community we really need to think about what’s at stake for our economy,” she said. “We’re not in a position to scale back our economy.”
The cruise industry will account for $375 million in direct spending in Juneau in 2023, with the majority of that coming from passenger spending, according to a report prepared for Juneau by McKinley Research Group LLC.
After a two-year lull in the pandemic, cruise passenger numbers in Juneau are expected to surge, topping a record 1.6 million in 2023. This year’s schedule marks Sept. 21 as the first day since early May when no big ships will call at the city.
The debate over tourism has been polarized and the city has tried to find middle ground, Juneau Tourism Industry Director Alexandra Pierce said, but she noted local solutions are also needed.
If Juneau’s plan passes, it would also affect other small communities in Southeast Alaska because ships leaving Seattle or Vancouver, Canada, would have to go elsewhere if they can’t dock in Juneau on Saturday, she said.
Some residents of Sitka, south of Juneau, are in the early stages of trying to restrict cruise ship visits to the small island community near a volcano.
Juneau and other major cruise lines, including Carnival Corp., Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Group, agreed to limit the number of passengers on their larger ships to five per day, effective this year, and more recently signed an agreement calling for limits on cruise passengers to 16,000 per day Sunday through Friday and 12,000 on Saturdays, set to take effect in 2026.
Pierce said the overall goal is to keep total cruise ship passenger numbers at around 1.6 million and to smooth out visitor numbers, which have spiked to about 18,000 per day on the busiest days and can be “a little stifling.” Juneau has traditionally been the state’s most popular cruise port.
Several projects underway around Juneau are expected to lessen the impact on existing cruise ship passenger numbers, including plans for a gondola at the city-run ski area and an expansion of visitor capacity at Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area, she said.
Rene Limoges-Reeve, vice president of government and community relations for Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, an industry group, said the agreement with the city is the first of its kind in Alaska.
The best strategy, she said, is “ongoing direct dialogue with local communities” and working with local businesses in ways that provide a predictable source of income.
Juneau’s Future, a group of local business leaders, said the ballot measure would result in lost sales tax revenue and the loss of millions of dollars in direct spending from cruise ship passengers. The group’s steering committee said in a statement they were confident the measure would be rejected by voters.
Carla Hart, a sponsor of the proposal and a frequent critic of the cruise industry, said fear of lawsuits had previously prevented communities from taking steps to limit the number of cruise ships. She was encouraged by a court victory this year in a fight against a bill passed in Bar Harbor, a popular tourist destination near Acadia National Park in Maine.
She believes Juneau’s proposal will pass.
“Everyone who votes has first-hand experience and knows how the cruise industry impacts their lives,” she said.
