This upcoming cruise ship tourism season will be the first time Juneau has a daily passenger cap thanks to negotiations between the city and cruise lines. Still, more than half the respondents in a local survey say they don’t believe the city is doing enough to mitigate tourism impacts on residents.
On Thursday, Juneau’s Visitor Industry Director Alix Pierce shared data from an annual tourism survey during a Juneau Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
The November phone survey included more than 500 people who lived throughout the borough during the 2025 visitor season. It asked them various questions about the recent tourism season and the industry as a whole. Last summer, about 1.7 million cruise ship passengers visited Juneau between April and October.
Overall, 31% said they think the positive impacts of tourism outweigh the negatives, compared to 10% who said the opposite. About 39% said tourism has both positive and negative impacts, and 18% said they felt no impacts at all. The survey shows that positive perception of tourism has waned over time, though it saw a slight 2% bump this year compared to the year before.
Pierce said she doesn’t necessarily see the trending decline as alarming, especially when looking at how much cruise ship passenger volumes have skyrocketed during that same period. Between 1995 and 2025, cruise ship passenger volumes increased by more than 350%.
“When I look at the trend lines over time, and I look at how much we’ve grown versus the growth in negative sentiment, which is pretty minor in comparison, that tells me we’ve done a lot of work, and that work is recognized, and it’s helping,” Pierce said.
According to the survey, 53% of respondents said the city isn’t doing enough to manage the industry’s impacts. Respondents reported that tourism affects them the most via downtown vehicle congestion, crowding on sidewalks and congestion at the Mendenhall Glacier. Respondents said the city should prioritize maintaining a five-ship daily limit, managing tour impacts on residents, and maintaining a daily passenger cap.
In the coming years, big plans are on the horizon that could drastically change the cruise ship industry in town. Alaska Native corporation Goldbelt Incorporated is planning a new $500 million cruise ship port on the back side of Douglas Island. That plan coincides with a downtown dock development by Huna Totem Corp., an Alaska Native village corporation based in Hoonah.
The survey touched on what residents think of Goldbelt’s plans for the back side of Douglas. According to the data, more than half of the respondents said it’s very important to develop a master plan for the area. They cited concerns about vehicle traffic, environmental impacts and emergency service access and other problems that could arise with the construction of a new dock.
The tourism season is fast approaching. The first large ship of the 2026 season is slated to arrive on April 27.
