One likely response to the rapid growth of cruise tourism in Sitka will be the creation of a Tourism Commission, and a tourism director to oversee it.
The Sitka Assembly met in a work session Thursday (3-7-24) to discuss the city’s current tourism planning and marketing model, and whether it should be modified to address the community’s rapidly-changing need.
Sitka’s Chamber of Commerce took over visitor management in 2018, after the dissolution of the Sitka Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Chamber has performed under a base three-year contract at $300,000 per year, extended annually, on approval of the funding from the assembly.
Assembly member Kevin Mosher said that model is outdated.
“So we’re most likely going to be hiring a tourism director, which is completely appropriate,” he said. “And so I would like to do a shift currently, from the Sitka model to more of a Juneau model where they have a tourism director. And then we would allow the contract with Visit Sitka to to expire and then do a new RFP (request for proposals) for a grant. And the difference here from a Juneau model is the city of Sitka would exercise more control over the operations of the contract with Visit Sitka.”
Assembly members agreed that the Chamber’s marketing efforts, under the banner Visit Sitka, have been successful. What’s not happening are the things no one could plan for when Visit Sitka was created. Sitka Planning Director Amy Ainslie said many tasks have landed in her office that should rightfully be the responsibility of a tourism director.
“First and foremost the city has several operations during the summertime, regarding Lincoln street closures, bathroom placements permitting, other traffic improvements and that sort of thing,” said Ainslie. “Those are all of the outcomes and operations that came out of the Short-Term Tourism Plan that have not left my desk since doing the plan.”
The most vocal critic of the Visit Sitka model has been assembly member Thor Christianson, who reminded the group that the former Convention and Visitors Bureau was funded by the bed tax, and was intended to promote independent travel to Sitka. Visit Sitka, in his opinion, had strayed from that mission.
“I doubt that the current situation here in Sitka has much to do with Visit Sitka,” said Christianson. “The website, where you list all the different charter lodges and places like that – that’s good. But things like the visitor guide, well, they’re already here. And then again, it strikes me as being aimed at the cruise ship tourists, and that’s not who’s paying their salaries. The independent travelers are paying their salaries.”
Over the course of the work session the assembly gradually teased out a direction: staying the course with the Chamber and Visit Sitka on the strength of its marketing, until it could develop a new scope of work for the contract that would better align with the Sitka of today, rather than the Sitka of the last decade. And second, creating a position within city hall to gather all the frayed threads of the last couple of years and manage tourism.
Assembly member Tim Pike, as they say, did not want to throw out the baby with the bathwater.
“Not marketing Sitka, overall, I don’t think is a good idea,” said Pike. “And then I really don’t want to confuse the managing of it with the marketing of it. Because I think the managing of it, which is what Amy’s talking about, is a whole different game, and has a lot bigger implications.”
Chamber of Commerce director Rachel Roy was not invited to speak during the work session. She had provided the assembly with detailed reports documenting the increase in web traffic, airport arrivals, hotel occupancy, and municipal revenues since her organization created Visit Sitka. Kevin Mosher took a moment to acknowledge what Visit Sitka had accomplished.
“I also feel the need to make sure you know the current contractor understands that they have done a tremendous job in marketing Sitka and helping bringing us tourism,” said Mosher, “increasing numbers and increasing visitors and I don’t want to seem ungrateful at all. I think they have done a tremendous job.”
The Chamber already received a one-year extension from the city in July. The assembly will revisit the question of a tourism director as an agenda item at its regular meeting on March 26.
