AkH&LA 2010 Legislative Priorities 

Increase Tourism Marketing Funding: AkH&LA requests the 2010 Alaska Legislature to pass legislation immediately to increase funding for Alaska’s tourism marketing program. It is important for Alaska to reinvest tourism tax dollars to fund a substantially expanded marketing campaign for 2010 and 2011 and beyond. For example, Hawaii and Australia are considered to be Alaska’s strongest competition as an expensive long haul destination (across oceans or large land mass) During the worldwide recession, they experienced only small declines in market share; Hawaii invested $85 million and was down -3%, Australia invested $140 million and was down -7.1%. This compares to Alaska’s investment of $11.7 million and -20% decline in 2009. 

 Alaska is struggling to maintain and grow market share in national and international tourism markets. There are many destinations outspending Alaska through increased marketing budgets. With the global recession it has made the competition even greater and Alaska’s travel industry risks facing future declines.

Healthy Cruise Industry: Whether or not an Alaska hotel or lodging business directly serves Cruise industry guests, all of Alaska’s accommodation businesses are affected by their economic impact and the sheer volume of visitors they bring to the State. A hotel property at capacity directs overflow business to other properties in the community increasing the bottom line for even the smallest bed and breakfasts throughout the State.

 Alaska in general and the hotel and lodging industry specifically has relied on the Cruise industry to market the State and bring customers to our businesses. The 2009 decline of 20% in Alaska’s travel industry will strain Alaska’s lodging businesses even further as fewer ships arrive in 2010. Our businesses will be forced to make further cutbacks in jobs, operating expenditures, and capital investments. And those businesses not able to survive the compounded losses year over year, will shut their doors and hand their keys over to their financial institutions.

 Without a growing and strengthened cruise industry in Alaska the result will be a negative impact to businesses, reduced local bed taxes to support local government operations, and increased unemployment. This alarming trend will continue to worsen. In order to have a healthy Hotel and Lodging industry it is imperative that Alaska create a stable and positive economic climate to encourage the highly competitive world-wide cruise industry to increase their presence in Alaska.