April 23 forum will discuss impacts of increased tourist volume

Tourism Best Management Practices (TBMP) and The Juneau Economic Development Council have partnered to host a public forum, “Tourism Growth and Juneau,” on Tuesday, April 23, 5-6:30 p.m. at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. TBMP is a cooperative effort of Juneau tour operators, cruise lines, transportation providers, and the City and Borough of Juneau.

The purpose of this forum is to share information with the community on activities underway to manage the impact of increased tourism volume, to provide opportunity for community feedback on what more can be done, to gather input on perceived capacity bottlenecks, and to explore opportunities and strategies to ensure tourism growth is positive for Juneau.

“I really appreciate that tour operators and JEDC are working proactively to address community impacts, engage the community, and to solicit information and solve problems,” City Manager Rorie Watt said.

Cruise tourism is growing in Southeast Alaska. This summer, Juneau expects to see a record 1.31 million visitors, which is more than 16 percent over levels last summer. This number is expected to grow by another 6 percent by the summer of 2020. The goal of the April 23 forum is to foster community understanding and dialogue.

For more information, contact JEDC’s Brian Holst at [email protected] or TBMP’s Kirby Day at [email protected].