Prepared by Alaska Division of Tourism
Revised November 30, 1998

Because of the vast amount of federal land in Alaska, and because Alaska is dependent on visitation from people who live at many points on the globe, there are several areas in which action or inaction by the federal government could have a profound effect on the ability of our industry to continue to grow and prosper.

The issues listed below are ones in which the Division of Tourism has had a role through its involvement in the Western States Tourism Policy Council. The Council is an alliance of the travel directors for ten western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. WSTPC was organized specifically to address issues like those listed below: issues which are common to all Western states, and issues which are critical to the growth of tourism in the west.

This should not be considered a complete list of all federal issues impacting tourism. Suggestions about other issues that ought to be reviewed and added are always welcome.

Immigration

Fixing Section 110 of the 1996 Immigration Reform Act. This section would have required that all individuals crossing borders into the United States move through a process similar to that now required of visitors from overseas upon their first entry into the US. Because of the need for free and easy movement between Alaska and Canada, such a change would have terrible impacts on Alaska.

Congress has suspended for 30 months any U.S. land borders implementation of Section 110 of the 1996 Immigration Reform Act. It was scheduled to be implemented September 30, 1998, but that effective date has now been moved to March 30, 2001. While this gets rid of the immediate problem, it still looms on the horizon and ought to be cleared up so that border crossings between Alaska and Canada are as seamless as border crossings between Germany and France.

Visa Waiver Pilot Program. This program was reauthorized last year and needs to be made permanent. It was significantly improved in the last go around – now it needs to be institutionalized.

Access to Federal Lands

Federal Fee Demonstration Project Extension. The recreation fee demonstration program has been extended by Congress for two years (until September 30, 2001) for all Federal public lands. This is good. What we need now is a way for visitors to Alaska to purchase a pass of some sorts, perhaps through the Division of Tourism or the APLICs, that gives them access to all Federal lands. In some instances, the fee will be simple to administer and collect. In other instances, particularly in recreation areas of the Tongass and Chugach National Forests, it will be very difficult and not particularly consumer-friendly to collect.

The Fee Demo program also doesn’t really envision a situation where a tourist uses a whole variety of public lands on their trip. A typical cruise passenger might visit the SEAVIC center in Ketchikan, the Totem Park and Russian Bishop’s House in Sitka, Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Klondike Gold Rush in Skagway, Glacier Bay National Park, and Kenai Fjords NP and Exit Glacier (Chugach Forest) in Seward. This one tourist could face individual fees from all these areas. There ought to be a simple way for tourists to purchase a pass that would give them access during a limited period of time to all fee demonstration areas in Alaska.

There is precedence: currently Senior Citizens can purchase Golden Eagle passes which give them access to all sorts of national parks in the country.

Air Tour Regulation. Legislation is being worked on in Washington DC which would require that no air tours can occur over any national parks unless an air tour management plan exists. The only park that has such a plan is the Grand Canyon. A moratorium on new air tours (until these plans can be created) would have a chilling effect on the ability of tourism to grow in Alaska and in the West. Also, following the Grand Canyon model for air tour management could severely limit the ability of people to gain access to most of the national parks in Alaska.

New Product Development

Reform of the Passenger Services Act. The travel industry in America has identified this issue as one in need of action. The National Council of State Tourism Directors has unanimously endorsed changes to this outdated law that would open up coastal America to the cruise industry. One of the main reasons for their support, besides the economic benefits that would accrue to port cities, is that most cruise passengers today are Americans, and because of this law, Americans wishing to take cruises, even to visit their own country, are being forced to leave the US and are then charged a Customs & Immigration fee in order to re-enter the country.

The Knowles Administration has not taken a position for or against any changes to this law, although there has been federal legislation written and considered which would provide for waivers to the PSA to be issued under certain circumstances. There is no consensus amongst the Alaska travel industry on the details of such an effort.

Many owners and operators of small ships (all of which are constructed in the US, operated by US companies and are thus not constrained by the PSA) are concerned about how the PSA might be changed. They would not be opposed to changes in the PSA as long as any changes provided for a "level playing field". Some areas of specific concern are that, unlike US flag cruise lines, foreign flag cruise lines- do not pay US corporate income tax on revenues earned from their operations; are not subject to US labor laws, including wage rates, health care and liability requirements; and are allowed to operate gaming and duty free concessions on board their vessels, even in US waters.

What is clear is that without a change to the PSA, the Aleutian Chain and Western Alaska will remain out of reach of the cruise industry and thus will miss out on the economic benefits it could bring to small towns and villages. It is also clear that major port cities like Juneau, Ketchikan, Anchorage and Seward are being denied significant economic benefits because the PSA does not allow coastal cruises that begin and end in US ports. While there is no clear and easy course that would satisfy all the potentially affected parties, a change to this law would be the single most dramatic thing that could be done to allow for tourism into Western Alaska. In light of the fisheries disasters of the past couple of years, it makes even more sense to try to find some middle ground on this. Many efforts have been made to find the middle ground on this issue, and a lot of progress has been made. We have reached a point where the issue needs high-level leadership to move forward.

Funding

National Tourism Office Funding. Congress did not pass any legislation regarding NTO funding, although it did authorize funding should a source be determined. The United States is the only developed country that has not national tourism office promoting visitation to the country. 10% of Alaska’s visitors come from international markets. State tourism offices rely on a united effort on behalf of the country to approach new potential overseas markets. Without funding to support a USNTO, nothing will be done to sell the US as a premier vacation destination or to coordinate sales efforts overseas. The result will be a continued erosion in market share for the United States. Formerly, the US was the second most visited country in the world (after France). Recently, we slipped to third, behind France (1) and Spain (2).

Adequate funding for the US Commerce Department’s in-flight survey program. Most of the in-bound traveler information is gathered through an in-flight survey program conducted by the US Commerce Department. There is never enough money to do a reliable statistical sampling, and the data is process in such a cumbersome way that it can take over a year to learn the results. There needs to be a new method of data gathering that takes advantage of technological innovations, and the program needs to be expanded to gather information on a statistically valid model from amongst all the in-bound jets bringing people to the US.

Federal funding for rural tourism initiatives. The State of Alaska has teamed with Alaska Village Initiatives to create the Rural Tourism Center. Our work to date has focused on providing technical assistance to rural communities and businesses. We now need to move to the next level and work cooperatively to develop and market products in Rural Alaska, especially in the international market. If we want to provide alternatives to commercial fishing and welfare, our best hope is going to be in tourism. By utilizing the best talents of Alaska Village Initiatives (in working with villagers and providing technical assistance) and the best talents of the Alaska Division of Tourism (developing marketing and sales programs to introduce communities and products to targeted markets worldwide), we can generate visitors and revenue for many rural communities. Funding sources for these initiatives could include HUD Special Purpose Grants, Western Alaska Disaster Relief funds, and USDA Forest Service SEACERT funds. We need specific direction from the Senator’s office regarding the amount of money in these sources that should be used for this project.

Teaming With Wildlife. Providing a stable source of funding for watchable wildlife has been a goal of many in the visitor industry for several years. A program called "Teaming with Wildlife" has been working to find a method for that funding to be raised and apportioned at a federal level. Governor Knowles was the first Governor in the nation to endorse the Teaming with Wildlife Initiative. Legislation introduced by Rep. Young, Sen. Murkowski and others in October 1998 (H.R. 4717 and S. 2566), would provide billions of new dollars annually to coastal states and local governments for much needed infrastructure, public services, recreation and environmental programs. Funding would come from existing Outer Continental Shelf oil leases. Alaska's share would be roughly $150 million annually, which could be used to support some tourism programs and infrastructure. Portions of these new bills are based on the Teaming With Wildlife initiative. For more information, see these two internet site: http://www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/FISH.GAME
/wildlife/geninfo/teaming/aktww1.htm
and http://www.teaming.com

Access to federal highway funds for Tourism marketing & visitor information. Congress took no action concerning report language proposed by the tourism industry requiring closer cooperation between state highway agencies and state tourism offices. Highway departments are good at building roads and roadside amenities; tourism offices are good at understanding what travelers’ needs are, and at promoting destinations.

Scenic byways and enhancement funding under TEA-21 can be applied to many things that are beneficial to road travelers, yet doing so to the maximum extent possible will require that people who think all the time about travelers’ needs have input into the selection and prioritization of projects. There is the potential for close cooperation here, yet without some clear direction from Congress, it is likely that highway departments will not uniformly involve tourism offices in the planning process for enhancements, or in the marketing efforts for Scenic Byways, and that Congress’s intentions with regard to the broadened use of enhancement and scenic byways funds will not be followed.

top