A brand new agreement between Alaska’s capital and major cruise lines will cap the variety of cruise passengers arriving in Juneau day by day starting in 2026. However, a outstanding critic of the cruise industry said on Tuesday that the planned limits weren’t enough.
The agreement, finalized late last week, sets a day by day cap of 16,000 cruise passengers from Sunday to Friday and 12,000 on Saturdays, but officials said that doesn’t necessarily mean there shall be that many individuals day by day.
Cruise ship passenger numbers soared after two years of pandemic-related declines, reaching a record high of greater than 1.6 million passengers in Juneau last 12 months. That has created tension between businesses that depend on tourism and residents fed up with increased traffic, crowded mountain climbing trails and the hum of helicopters transporting visitors to glaciers.
The cruise season has also gotten longer. The first boat of the 12 months arrives in Juneau in early April, the last in late October. On peak days up to now, the variety of passengers was about two-thirds of Juneau’s population, about 32,000 people.
As a part of a separate agreement signed last 12 months, a day by day limit of 5 large vessels got here into force with the present season.
Alexandra Pierce, Juneau’s tourism director, said Tuesday that the goal of the present agreement is to maintain the variety of cruise passengers roughly stable at about 1.6 million.
“The idea is that the agreement buys everyone time not only to see if it’s viable, but also to build the infrastructure that will help make it feel more sustainable,” she said.
Pierce said she expects plenty of projects to be accomplished over the following five years “that will help make our current numbers feel less significant,” citing plans for a gondola at town’s ski area, upgrades to the downtown Sea Walk and increased visitor capability. in the favored recreation area Mendenhall Glacier.
The agreement, signed by town manager and executives of major cruise lines, also calls for annual meetings to “discuss lessons learned, review and optimize operations for the upcoming season, and align on societal and industry-wide parameters, goals and opportunities.”
Pierce said city leaders are attempting to “balance the needs of our citizens, the needs of our economy and the need for future opportunities for people to stay in our community.”
Karla Hart, a long-time critic of the industry, is skeptical of the brand new agreement, saying it doesn’t adequately address concerns amongst many local residents that current levels of tourism are unsustainable.
“It feels like we’re just being taken for a ride again. The expansion will continue, more time will pass” and the results will last, she said.
Hart is supporting a neighborhood ballot initiative that may establish “ship-free Saturdays.” Cruise ships with a capability of 250 or more passengers wouldn’t be allowed to dock in Juneau on Saturdays and the Fourth of July. The signature verification process for the proposed measure is underway. If approved, the measure could appear on the ballot in October.
Renée Limoge Reeve, vice chairman of presidency and community relations at trade group Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, said initiatives “take away the opportunity for collaboration and discussion, and I think that leaves a lot to be desired.”
She said the Juneau agreements are the primary such agreements the industry has signed in Alaska and underscore the cruise lines’ commitment to “being good partners in the communities we visit.” Juneau and other communities in southeast Alaska are popular stopovers on cruises departing from Seattle or Vancouver. The much smaller community of Sitka has also struggled with the controversy over tourist numbers.
Reeve and Pierce also attended a Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce press conference on Tuesday to debate the agreement.
