The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended the no-sail order for cruise ships through the end of the month. The order had been set to expire Oct. 1.
Tourism director Steven Auch said he looks on this as a hopeful sign for next summer’s tourism season.
“The thing that’s interesting is that the extension of it until the end of October is actually a benefit to the cruise industry. (The CDC) wanted to extend it until the end of the year. In essence, that says that they are more interested in letting ships sail sooner, which is a positive sign,” Auch said.
News outlets have reported that the CDC had pushed to extend the order through February 2021, but Vice President Mike Pence overruled the agency.
Auch said the lifting of the no-sail order will give the cruise ship industry additional time to fine-tune COVID-19 protocol before Alaska’s cruise ship season begins.
“The advantage we have in Alaska is that our season is still a ways away. They’re starting to test the waters in Europe right now,” Auch said. He said while he’s hopeful that there will be a tourism season in 2021, questions remain about what the season will look like.
In Europe, cruise lines are operating under a pod model where, in addition to increased sanitization and other COVID-19 mitigation protocol, visitors are limited to onshore excursions where they remain within their bubble, avoiding local shops and interactions with the local population.
“That would exclude the entire retail industry and the restaurant industry,” Alaska Rod’s owner Rhonda Hinson said when Auch described the model at the Oct. 8 Tourism Advisory Board (TAB) meeting.
Auch acknowledged drawbacks to the pod model and said it’s not the cruise industry’s preference.
“(Cruise Lines International Association) has said they have no intention of the Alaska season looking like that. They know that customers want to get off the ship and explore the local community,” Auch said. “We’re hoping they can come up with better safety protocol before (the start of the Alaska season).”
He added that although not the industry’s preference, if it’s the only way they can operate safely, it could end up being the model for the 2021 season.
Others involved in the Haines tourism industry are less hopeful about the prospects for the 2021 season.
“The (Oct. 31 no-sail extension) does not make me hopeful that there will be a tourism season next year. I will be hopeful when the Canada border opens back up and when Haines feels ready to host crowds of cruise passengers,” TAB chair and Haines Rafting Company owner Andy Hedden said.
In addition to the U.S. no-sail order, another obstacle for the 2021 tourism season is the current closure of Canadian ports to large cruise ships and the U.S.-Canada border closure.
Due to a provision in the U.S. Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, ships flying international flags cannot sail directly between U.S. ports. They must stop in a foreign port. Vancouver is a common choice for sailings to Alaska. Since most of the larger cruise ships visiting Haines fly foreign flags, until Canada lifts its port closure, Haines is unlikely to see many vessels.
Hedden said although he’s optimistic there will be more tourism in Haines than last year, he thinks it’s still going to be a pretty minimal season.
“Yukon and B.C. officials have made it pretty clear that they do not support opening up until there is evidence that COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are under control. I think the community of Haines expects that as well. With next season only six or so months away, that seems like a tall order,” Hedden said.
Cruise ships with a capacity of 100 or fewer passengers and crew are exempt from the ban. However, Auch said he’s not sure there will be much enthusiasm to have small ships sail if it’s deemed unsafe to have larger ships sail.
“If a ship is coming here, we want to make sure our community is ready, that it has the procedures in place to keep us safe and also the people on the ship,” he said.
Auch said the U.S. is having ongoing conversations with the Canadian government and he’s hopeful that the lifting of the U.S. no-sail order is an indication that things are moving in a positive direction.
“If (a Canadian port closure) is the only thing that is stopping the cruise industry from returning to Alaska, then at that point, I would expect to see a major push from them toward (revising) the Passenger Vessel Services Act,” Auch said.
RVs are another potential source of tourism this coming summer.
“We’re expecting to see a huge spike in RV traffic,” Auch said, adding that this is largely dependent on the Canadian border opening to nonessential travel.
For owners of tourism-based businesses, another summer like the 2020 summer will be challenging.
“If it turns out to be another summer like the one we just had, I will probably close up shop and look for other work,” Hedden said, adding, “This won’t last forever and we will start back up when the border is open and people are traveling.”
Hinson said she’s trying to remain positive.
“I think we would make it. I’ll have a better idea after this winter,” she said. Like many small-business owners in town, Hinson uses savings from the summer to make it through the winter, but this year, that won’t be possible.
“We don’t have enough saved for this winter from summer sales, but we do have money that we set aside in past years. We’ve got that to fall back on,” Hinson said. “I tend to be glass is half full kind of person. I’m hopeful everything will get worked out.”
The U.S.-Canada border closure has been extended until at least Oct. 21. Canadian ports are closed to large cruise ships until at least Oct. 31.