"Tourism Best Management Practices"

At Monday’s Assembly meeting, members praised Kirby Day for his leadership of Tourism Best Management Practices for the last 25 years. 

The industry’s commitments include giving advance notice to the city of ship schedules and capacity numbers and keeping big, outdoor screens turned off while in port.

After a season of record-breaking growth, a gathering of tourism industry stakeholders in Juneau celebrated the summer’s success. But some attendees voiced concern about the need for serious conversations about the number of cruise ship passengers visiting the state.

Juneau’s first large cruise ship of the year arrives this weekend, but the conversation about how to manage a growing tourism industry will continue well beyond this record-breaking summer season.  

Tour operators and seasonal businesses are busy getting ready for the anticipated 1.3 million passengers expected to arrive over the next five months.

Three days after the final ruling over how the city spends passenger fees, the Juneau Assembly approved a downtown waterfront improvement package Monday that will be paid for in large part with those fees.