Cruise passengers spend an average of $136 per day in Sitka, Alaska — $63 on guided tours, $43 on retail and $19 on food and drink — according to a report commissioned by Cruise Lines International Association that city officials will now use to shape tourism policy.

Sitka Tourism director Judson Rusk presented the findings, from the study "Cruise Port Profile: Sitka: Understanding Cruise Activity & Economic Impacts in Sitka," to the Sitka Assembly on Tuesday. The report was published this year but reflects 2024 data. It formed part of a broader project covering 10 cruise ports — five in North America, five in Europe — and Rusk said it is the largest such study the city has had to date.

"It's important because there needs to be some sort of validation of what the cruise line industry means economically to our town," Rusk said. "Everyone knows the industry is a big part of our economy, but not exactly how much money do we get, where does it go, and what are the actual benefits."

Who paid for the numbers?

CLIA, the lobbying group representing major cruise lines, commissioned the report. ProPublica's published Form 990 filings show CLIA paid $835,158 to Tourism Economics in 2024.

Sellers and destination managers should treat the headline figures with that provenance in mind. Rusk told the Sentinel the spending numbers are based on national data submitted by the cruise lines themselves and carry wide margins of error — a self-reported dataset rather than independently audited figures.

The passenger profile comes from an online survey of 3,469 cruise passengers:

• 64% were older than 55, mostly traveling with a partner or adult family members
• 92% were from the United States
• 83% were visiting Sitka for the first time
• Average time ashore: nearly five hours, spent walking, shopping and visiting attractions such as Fortress of the Bear

Mobile device tracking data showed visitors spent an average of 90 minutes each in the Heritage Cultural District near Centennial Hall and in the Baranof Downtown Walking Area, with additional traffic to Sitka National Historical Park and the Alaska Raptor Center.

How big is the economic footprint?

The report estimated cruise-linked spending contributed $85 million to Alaska's gross domestic product in 2024. The breakdown:

• $55 million in direct effects
• $14 million in indirect effects, from businesses purchasing supplies
• $16 million in induced effects, from employees spending wages

That spending concentrated mainly in the arts, leisure and retail sectors.

City sales tax records offer a rough cross-check, with important limits. The Finance Department says it cannot separate cruise tourism revenue from the total. But in fiscal years 2020 and 2021, when the pandemic shut down cruise tourism, total sales tax revenue ran $6,270,305 and $6,981,919 respectively. In fiscal 2022, after cruising resumed, it rose to $8,511,244 — a jump of roughly 22% year over year that officials attribute at least in part to returning tourists.

Those tax receipts imply roughly $114 million to $125 million in taxable economic activity in fiscal 2020 and $155 million to $170 million in fiscal 2022, depending on the seasonal tax rate assumption. Because residents and seasonal workers also spend, the figures only proxy the cruise sector's specific share of the growth.

What do local operators say?

A survey of 47 Sitka businesses, most in the tourism sector, found respondents estimated on average that 55% of their 2024 revenue came from cruise ship tourism — a dependence level that underscores the distribution stakes for shore excursion operators and retailers.

Attitudes were split on value. Sixty-two percent of businesses strongly agreed that "Cruise visitors are important to the local economy in Sitka," but only 9% strongly agreed that "Cruise visitors tend to spend more than other types of visitors to Sitka."

Assembly member Katie Riley said the data will inform upcoming policy work. "I am happy to have more data to inform my decision making and understanding of the impact of the tourism industry, and I will be considering the information in this report as we look at policies that address the impacts of the tourism industry in Sitka," Riley said.

With baseline numbers now on the record — however wide their error margins — Sitka's Assembly has a quantified reference point as it weighs visitor management policies against a sector that local operators say drives more than half their revenue.