After two tough years for Alaska’s visitor industry sector, there are encouraging signs of a robust, and possibly record-breaking cruise ship season for 2022, but labor shortages may cause challenges.
In 2019, Allen Marine Tours employed between 600 and 700 people across its three Southeast Alaska locations. Now, there are dozens of positions vacant in Juneau just one week before the first large cruise ship is set to sail into Alaska’s capital city.
There are many theories as to why the normal rush of workers hasn’t come, from a lack of housing in Juneau to college students in the Lower 48 finding other options. Labor shortages are being seen across the board. Perry says not all businesses may be operating at 100%, but there are reasons to be optimistic for the independent traveler sector, which typically makes up 5-7% of the total number of large cruise passengers who come to Juneau each year. Hotels are reporting strong occupancy numbers, and some remote lodges have virtually no vacancies all summer, Perry added.
Robert Venables, head of Southeast Conference, says everyone in the visitor industry sector is trying to manage expectations while breathing out a “collective sigh of relief” for the return of a somewhat normal summer.Patricia Hickok, 77, has owned and operated Hickok’s Trading Company for 30 years. She, too, has found it difficult to find people interested in working at her downtown gift store and has reached out to retired friends who can help out one day a week.
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