The summer 2022 cruise ship calendar projects around 88,000 passengers coming to town, the most in 20 years.
“There are a lot of things that could change, but the optimism is even if those ships sailed at 75 percent capacity and we get the calendar, that would still be 66,000 people which would still rival some of our banner years,” Haines Borough tourism director Steven Auch said. “In 2019, we saw 54,000 guests.”
The schedule is highly dependent on the trajectory of the pandemic, Auch warned, adding that tourism is expected to rise significantly across Southeast next summer.
“The entire Southeast is looking at seeing a massive increase,” Auch said. “Oceana, a brand that sails, just announced they had their largest number of bookings in a single day ever. People are booking cruises, there’s no question about that. People want to sail and go on vacation.”
Auch added that while he doesn’t have data, he expects independent traveler traffic will also increase in Haines next year but also cautioned that things could easily change.
“Multi-day stays and independent travelers could potentially be up as well,” Auch said. “These are all things we’re hoping to see. It’s also a different world we live in. Who knows what could happen over the next six months?”
This summer about 1,500 small cruise ship passengers visited Haines, compared to the 54,000 in 2019 before the pandemic began. Cruise ship traffic peaked at 187,000 in 2000. Auch has data going back to 1997.