2024 brought record number of visitors; business results more nuanced

2024 was a record year for tourism in Southeast Alaska. According to the Southeast Conference's annual Southeast by the Numbers report, over 1.68 million people visited the region in 2024, marking an all-time high in annual visitors. It was the third-straight year with more than 1 million tourists since the COVID-19 pandemic halted the industry entirely in 2020.

Since 2020, many of Ketchikan's tourist-dependent businesses have made strong comebacks as well. Southeast Conference states that, "In spring 2024, business leaders from the tourism, food, and beverage sectors reported a strong economic climate with 81% calling the business climate good or very good for their business. Nearly half (43%) expected their business operations to be even stronger headed into 2024 and 2025."

While Ketchikan's tourism industry was generally successful in 2024, some businesses didn't see the levels of success they were hoping for. Others, though, saw high water marks in areas like bookings, revenue and total passenger counts. The Daily News spoke with four local tourism-related businesses to get their perspectives on the 2024 tourist season.

Matt Herod is the general manager at Salmon Falls Fishing Resort in Ketchikan. The resort provides high-end fishing charters, dining and lodging "for passionate sports fishermen and first-time anglers who value first-class experience."

Herod said that 2024 was the most financially successful year Salmon Falls has had since he has been involved with the business, and attributed much of that success to the resort's ability to keep clients coming back year after year.

"2024 ended up being a record-breaking season for us at Salmon Falls," Herod said. "It was our high water mark from a revenue perspective and from a profitability standpoint, since the [current] owners purchased Salmon Falls nine years ago. Over the last eight or nine years, we've been able to develop long-term clients that come back to us every single year. I think overall, people have begun to trust our product again. And that wasn't always the case when we started out."

Herod said that one change that Salmon Falls has made was a price increase to offset the costs of growing inflation. With the prices of things like gas, food, labor and fishing gear growing "substantially" since 2020, Herod said that price increases were necessary in order for the resort to maintain profitability. While he initially was nervous about the idea of increasing prices, Herod described the experiences at Salmon Falls as "priced correctly" while still remaining "competitive."

Salmon Falls also has undergone efforts to diversify the experiences they offer. While fishing remains their most popular offering, Herod said that he has begun seeking out local partners who can offer a wider variety of tours and additional experiences for guests.

"We sell all inclusive packages, but really the draw [for our guests] is to go fishing," Herod said. "That being said, we offer more than just fishing. We position ourselves as an adventure resort, not just a fishing resort. We've partnered with all types of third-party operators and offer floatplane tours from our dock, kayaking, ziplining, Hummer, and oyster farm tours. So we've really made sure that we give our all inclusive guests all these different options."

Despite efforts to offer more variety to guests at the resort, Herod acknowledged that "80 to 85% of [guests] are just coming here to fish every day." He described charter fishing as Salmon Falls' "bread and butter," but also said that the resort's restaurant has benefited significantly from the business of locals.   

"It's hard for me to single it out and say fishing is the most important. All of the business is obviously important," Herod said. "Without the local support, I don't think our restaurant would be profitable. The food for an all-inclusive guest is really just an amenity. People aren't coming up from the Lower 48 just to try our food, they're here because they want to fish. But without the local support, I'm not sure we would be as successful as we are now."

While Salmon Falls achieved record profitability in 2024, Herod also described the year as "probably one of our tougher seasons." He referenced staffing and personnel issues as making the year particularly challenging.

Herod said that the seasonal nature of the tourism industry in Ketchikan sometimes prevents Salmon Falls from finding "high-caliber" employees, and he identified the biggest challenge as being employee housing. He said that Salmon Falls management has helped mitigate their housing issues by using their sister property, The Ketch, as employee housing. They have also made living space at the property available to other businesses in Ketchikan to house their employees.

Besides housing, Herod said the logistics of transporting employees to and from work has also been a challenge, with the two properties being approximately 16 miles away from each other.

Russell Thomas is also in the fishing lodge business. Thomas is managing partner at Clover Pass Resort and Alaska Sportfishing Expeditions, which offers fishing charters and boat rentals, as well as fishing lodge experiences at Silverking Lodge.

Thomas said that certain areas of his business were not as successful as 2023, while others saw a slight increase. He said that Clover Pass measures success by profitability, ensuring positive guest experiences and "providing gainful employment for our team." Thomas had been hoping for more growth within the business than it ultimately achieved in 2024.

Thomas also referenced finding labor and employee housing as being two of his business' biggest hurdles.   

"Housing continues to be a real issue," Thomas said. "We're dealing with that, just like lots of other businesses. We weren't quite sure how that was all going to shake out, but in the end, we were able to secure enough housing for all of our people. And even though we had to give up a little bit of profitability and wages, I think our people were happy, and that's always a good thing."

He also said that Alaska Ballot Measure No. 1 — which passed in November and will take effect on July 1 — represents another challenge for his business. The measure will increase Alaska's minimum wage to $13 per hour in 2025, $14 per hour in 2026, and $15 per hour in 2027. The minimum wage will continue to increase with inflation after 2027.

Thomas' main point of contention with Ballot Measure No.1 is that it requires paid sick leave for seasonal employees, something that was not previously mandated by state law.

"We'll be required now to provide sick leave, which we haven't before," Thomas said. "Our year-round employees have had access to some paid time off, but we've never offered that before for seasonal employees. Now we're going to have to do that, so those are just expenses that are going to have to be absorbed somewhere."

He added that he didn't want to "just be negative" about the new ballot measure, and said being required to offer sick leave to seasonal employees could make jobs more attractive to potential recruits.

Overall, Thomas said he feels positive about the tourism industry in Ketchikan. When it comes to the charter fishing industry though, he's less optimistic.

"We're fishing on a finite resource, and there's a lot of demand for it, and so that's challenging," Thomas said. "Any time you're dealing with a fully allocated resource, and there's pressure on it, that creates some potential problems. I think that's something that we're keeping our eye on.

"I'm pretty bullish on tourism, but I think the community needs to have a serious conversation around how much growth is appropriate [for charter fishing]," Thomas continued. "Are we at a saturation point where we just need to just be happy with what we have, and not continue to try and do more? Are we going to kill the golden goose? Are we going to ruin what is so attractive to people coming here by just trying to go more and more and more?"

Adrianna Olivia-Parks is the general manager at Cape Fox Tours. She oversees the company's transit van operations and tour sites, which include the Saxman Native Village and Totem Park, and the Historic George Inlet Cannery. She also oversees properties that are used by partner companies in the tourism industry.

Olivia-Parks described 2024 as "the best year that Cape Fox Tours has ever had in terms of performance, revenue, profit, community involvement and staffing numbers."

She said that Cape Fox Tours saw a "big boom" in 2021, the first summer in which tourism slowly started coming back to Ketchikan.

This increase was also concurrent with the addition of the cruise ship dock in Ward Cove. Olivia-Parks said many local businesses reached out to Cape Fox, asking if they could provide transportation for their clients from Ward Cove to their allotted tours or destinations. Since 2021, Cape Fox Tours has continued to expand its operations in tours and transportation partnerships.

Olivia-Parks would like to see longer port calls for cruise ships docking at Ward Cove. Since visitors arriving at Ward Cove require transportation to their tour sites or to downtown Ketchikan — many on Cape Fox-operated vans or buses — they have significantly less time to experience Ketchikan than those aboard ships docking downtown.

"We're still one of the top locations compared to anywhere else, and so guests are willing and wanting to come here," Oliva-Parks said. "But now we're struggling to keep up. We definitely would like to see some longer port calls. We would like to see guests have time to actually explore Ketchikan and take in the whole aspect of what it is to come to Alaska. So they can spend more time actually on tour, versus the time that they're in a vehicle."

"But also, if you're not on a tour, being able to walk through downtown and it not feel so congested that you can't walk across the street to check out the shops or the museums," she continued. "That's how you get to explore Alaska. That's how you really get to immerse yourself in the experiences."

Brien and Angela Salazar are the co-owners of Kawanti Adventures, which offers flightseeing, ziplines, rainforest walks, bear and wildlife sighting excursions and ATV tours.

Of the 2024 season, Brien Salazar said, "Our sales were up, but not incredibly. We recouped quite a bit of flightseeing revenue because we had more ships selling [those flights]. But we made some changes to our karts and our ziplines and bear tours that were able to increase our sales slightly."

Angela Salazar clarified that Kawanti has spent the years since the COVID-19 pandemic bolstering their operations. And that although the company's revenue increased in 2024, it was not up to the level that the company had anticipated.

"We spent the last four or five years reinvesting in all of our operations," Angela said. "We redid the ziplines, rebuilt all of our planes, and it was a huge investment while we were waiting to be able to use them. 2024 was the first time that we could almost be up and running at full capacity. So I think that while our sales were up and we were staffed and our equipment was ready, the sales probably weren't where we had hoped they would be. But they're moving in the right direction."

Although their expectations for 2024 might have been "a bit too lofty," Brien and Angela are confident in the decision to reinvest in their assets.

Brien said that it "helps the reliability and value of our infrastructure, and we reduced our aircraft maintenance costs."

Angela said the reinvestment also reflects Kawanti's commitment to its core values as a company, and will prove its value as time goes on.  

"Our values are safety, respect, quality and excellence," Angela said. "Reinvesting in all of those things, and as well as in our people, only helps us achieve those values. Everything is state of the art, brand new equipment, brand new procedures. So we do think it was worthwhile, even though I don't necessarily think we saw the payoff right off the bat as we had hoped."

Brien and Angela are also trying to decrease Kawanti's reliance on cruise lines as a source of revenue. Angela said that 2024 marked an increase in sales booked directly with Kawanti. She added that it's important for them to find additional revenue streams, but also acknowledged that business from cruise lines will always be a large part of Kawanti's operations.

Brien and Angela named employee housing and Ketchikan's infrastructure such as roads as areas of concern for Kawanti.

Angela added that she is optimistic about the future of Ketchikan's tourism industry, and that she wants people who don't work in tourism to realize that the entire community of Ketchikan benefits from the revenue it generates, not just tour operators and shop owners.  

"I do think that the future is bright. I think that Alaska is a great market and opportunity, and people want to come," Angela said. "And there obviously are things that are out of all of our control, aside from just the cruise ship sales. Just because people maybe have enough money to cruise, I don't know that they have as much money to be able to go on a flightseeing trip or to go ziplining, and so hopefully that will improve economically."

"[Tour companies] all compete against each other somewhat, but at the end of the day, we want everybody to come and have a great experience," she continued. "Whether they're on a duck boat or on one of our Polaris RZRs. I think that if the state helps and the city helps and we all work together, the trickle down effect of this industry is huge. You talk to hairdressers... you talk to the dentist, you talk to everybody in town and people think, 'Oh, it's just a seasonal business, [tourists] are just coming in and hurting our community.' They're not. We wouldn't be here without them. So I think the more understanding and awareness that everyone has, the better it will be."

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News