March 11, 2020 - 6:05 AM
JUNEAU, Alaska - An Alaska city's tourism task force is not expected to recommend placing a cap on the number of visitors during the upcoming tourist season.
The City and Borough of Juneau Visitor Industry Task Force is more likely to recommend the city use infrastructure to limit the number of visitors, The Juneau Empire reported Monday.
“I think that the task force is pretty much in agreement that a hard cap is not legal and not practical,” task force chair and Juneau Assembly member Carole Triem said.
The 10-member task force met Sunday to develop recommendations it hopes to present to a March 23 meeting of the Committee of the Whole, a work session of the city assembly.
The infrastructure changes could include berthing larger cruise ships filled with passengers closer to the city to reduce congestion, as well as requiring longer separations between ship arrivals.
“In general, a discussion was the city would just become more involved in how the ships are berthing and working through the port agent,” said task force member Kirby Day, who co-ordinates Juneau's Tourism Best Management Practices program.
Mayor Beth Weldon created the task force in 2019 to answer questions about the management of Juneau’s growing tourist industry.
There are expected to be 1.44 million visitors to Southeast Alaska communities this season.
Public comment will be incorporated into its draft recommendations, task force members said.
The sub-port property recently purchased by Norwegian Cruise Lines and the idea of ship-free days are expected to be mentioned in the final report due to public interest, task force members said.
News from © The Associated Press, 2020