Municipal leaders from communities across the region shared thoughts on how cities can best manage the visitor industry at Southeast Conference this week.
Tourism is booming in Southeast Alaska. When the Panama Canal was widened about a decade ago, it made way for larger neopanamax class ships to visit Alaska. Since then, communities like Sitka, Juneau, and Ketchikan have seen record-breaking cruise seasons year-after-year. In the growth, cities have taken on new roles– from adding infrastructure and jobs to address its effects, to navigating divided community feedback on increasing passenger counts.
Kate Thomas is Wrangell’s economic development director. She was one of three panelists that addressed conference goers about the role of local government in the industry.
“The community definitely wants us to sort of puppeteer the size of ship, the population of visitors that come in, their behavior on the streets when they’re in town, those things I don’t have as much control over,” Thomas said. “So we try to work with Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska and advocate for the type and style and size of ship that we like. But we also understand that we play a role in the larger configuration of the industry, and so we give and take a little bit.”
Cruise traffic in Wrangell was at roughly 70,000 this summer, up from 40,000 in 2025. Thomas said the city has worked with the industry to keep the 2000 to 3000 passenger ships to a “sprinkling,” keeping port revenue rolling without inundating the public.
Skagway Borough Manager Emily Deach said she feels the government’s role is to set people up to succeed within the industry.
“So we’re receiving sales tax revenue, we’re receiving port revenue, and we need to make decisions that allow others to prosper, I think,” Deach said. “So we’re providing streets that you can walk, boardwalks downtown that don’t have big holes in them, or we’re providing policies where businesses or construction companies, everyone there can sort of can thrive from the industry.”
Deach says there’s a large tract of land in the middle of Skagway that the community wants opened up for housing development. However, it’s also home to an RV park, and displacing those would remove an opportunity for independent tourists to visit. Deach says figuring out how to strike a balance between the needs of the community and the visitor industry is central to her role.
Laurie Booyse is Ketchikan’s tourism manager. Booyse, who previously worked for Visit Sitka, says as a former business and non-profit employee she’s used to getting things done. Now, in her first job with a municipality, she recognizes that the “speed of government” is a real thing.
“I think a lot of what we do, people don’t see, because we’re making it easier, safer, and better for our whole community as these tourism management entities,” Booyse said. “We’re like the guy behind the curtain pulling the strings, and out front are the the tour operators and, you know, all the people who get to shake hands and kiss babies while we tend to keep everything standing up.”
Booyse said she doesn’t think it’s the government’s role to limit commerce through something like a cruise passenger limit. She said the city’s role, ultimately, is to maintain safety for everyone in the community, and build a climate for citizen success.
Southeast Conference wrapped in Ketchikan on Thursday.
