Some international visitors are halting their summer travel to Unalaska as political tensions between countries rise. The Museum of the Aleutians has already received cancellations from international visitors, months before the cruise season begins in May.
Two cruise guests cited “the evolving political situation” between their home countries and the U.S. as reasons for their on-island tour cancellations.
From May to September, many international cruise ships make port calls in Unalaska, allowing visitors to explore the island before they sail off to their next destination.
The Museum of the Aleutians has a gift shop and offers historical tours to those visitors. That can be a significant business for the museum, according to Director Virginia Hatfield.
“The cruise ship season is really important for us,” she said. “Each cruise ship brings in about $5,000 minimum, almost, with admissions and what they purchase. But it depends on the cruise ship.”
Hatfield said the smaller cruise ships generate around $2,000.
“We make $2,000 the whole month of January, right? So having that in one day is amazing,” she said.
Hatfield said many of the cruise ship visitors are foreign tourists. She worries about the organization’s financial survival if there’s a drop in international tourism on the island.
“If they decide that they need to make a point about how the rest of the world is being impacted by American policies and in tariffs, that’s going to be a big impact to our earned revenue,” Hatfield said. “And I don’t know how we’ll make that one up.”
According to the Unalaska Visitors Bureau, the amount of cruises stopping in Unalaska is growing. In 2008, just five cruise ships visited the island. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, those numbers had been steadily increasing. This summer, the island expects 19 port calls from cruise ships – 16 of which are international.
But not all local organizations are currently worried about international tourism declining on the island.
Katherine McGlashan, executive director of the Unalaska Visitors Bureau, wrote in an email to KUCB that the tourism trend so far has been positive. She said she’s “feeling confident it will be another good season for UVB.”
Meanwhile, museum staff are waiting to see if cancellations continue to increase as the cruise season approaches.
