This year, tour companies will need a COVID-19 mitigation plan approved by the Haines Borough manager before they can conduct tours.
On Tuesday, the Haines Borough Assembly approved 4-2 a proposal put forward by tourism director Steven Auch to require a COVID-19 mitigation plan in order to receive tour permit approval in 2021.
“I understand that people are going to be concerned with companies inviting people into town, so it seemed to make sense,” Auch said in an interview before the assembly’s vote. “As a community, we need businesses to be able to survive and make money. Requiring (mitigation plans) is a way for businesses to continue to operate while still helping to keep the community safe.”
Assembly members Gabe Thomas, Caitie Kirby, Jerry Lapp and Cheryl Stickler voted in favor of the measure with members Caroly Tuynman and Paul Rogers in opposition.
A number of assembly members, including those who voted in favor of the measure, expressed concern about government regulation of businesses, but the majority said they favored the idea because it offers additional protection to the community.
“If this is how we can stay open and still stay safe, I think it’s doable, and I don’t consider it governmental overreach when it’s providing incoming jobs,” Stickler said.
Auch said the tour operators he’s spoken with have been open to the idea. A number already had plans in the works.
Haines Rafting Company has a draft plan in place for operations in Glacier Bay National Park.
“Our current plan requires masks in all confined spaces such as shuttle vans and airplanes, limits the mixing of groups that are not already traveling together, and establishes wilderness protocols for isolating symptomatic participants,” owner Andy Hedden said, adding that the company is waiting on the findings of a task force studying a potential reopening of the U.S.-Canada border before finalizing its plan.
Hedden, who chairs the borough’s Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), said the board is planning to meet to discuss COVID-19 best practices for the tourism industry. At TAB meetings in late 2020, members said safety protocol and community outreach would be important parts of planning for tourism in 2021.
In November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offered hope for an Alaskan cruise season when it revised rules, allowing ships to return to sailing if they meet requirements including on-board and on-shore testing capabilities, and the completion of a mock sailing to test out COVID-19 mitigation plans. But a summer tourism season is far from certain at this point.
In early January, Holland America and Princess Cruises announced the cancellation of sailings to Alaska through mid-May, impacting several previously scheduled Skagway sailings.
Auch said the announcement was unsurprising.
The process for receiving CDC sailing approval is time-consuming, and even before the lifting of the no-sail order, “the cruise lines had already mentioned that they were going to be slow-rolling into this year. We were expecting the season to be slow,” he said, adding, “It will be concerning if they start announcing more cancellations into June.”
Some tour operators are holding off on COVID-19 mitigation planning while they wait to see whether it makes sense to operate in 2021.
“As the season gets shortened, it gets harder to assure adequate staffing and also to predict profitability,” Rainbow Glacier Adventures LLC owner Joe Ordonez said. “There are many up-front costs of opening a tour business—vehicle inspections, local, state and federal permits, training costs, insurance, etc. I am waiting to see if it will be profitable to open our doors next summer. If it is not profitable, then there is no need to prepare a COVID mitigation plan nor apply for a tour permit.”
The U.S.-Canada border, another source of summer tourism, has been closed since March 2020. A task force formed by the Wilson Center, a non-partisan policy forum that tackles global issues, is studying how and when to lift the closure, and expects to publish findings in March. Individuals and organizations in border communities can submit comments about the border reopening by emailing [email protected].