Tourism

Cruise ship passengers who arrive at Juneau’s farthest dock may not have to trek as far to get to downtown in the coming years.

On Monday, the Juneau Assembly approved leasing a downtown waterfront property and tidelands near where the seawalk currently ends by the port. Petro Marine Services owns the property. City Manager Katie Koester says the lease is needed to finally connect all of Juneau’s cruise ship docks. 

“This ordinance is a really important piece in extending the sea walk all the way to the AJ dock,” she said.  

Right now, the AJ dock is isolated from the rest of the other cruise ships. So, visitors who get dropped off there have to shuttle into town or walk roughly 10 minutes through an industrial area to get there. The proposed seawalk extension would allow them to walk directly to downtown along the waterfront.

The city has long planned to develop a continuous, mile-and-a-half-long path from the Douglas Bridge to the AJ dock. The city has extended the seawalk in sections over the years, and this new section will stretch a quarter mile south towards Thane. 

Plans are underway to eventually build a fifth cruise ship dock next to the U.S. Coast Guard station on Egan Drive. The Assembly approved a tidelands lease for that development in April, but a few more hurdles need to be cleared before construction can begin. 

The city will pay $75,000 annually to lease the property, which will be paid for using marine passenger fees  – the tax the city collects from cruise ship passengers who arrive in port. The lease was approved for 35 years. 

At the meeting, some residents testified in support, but not everyone was on board with the plan. Auke Bay resident Heather Marlow questioned whether the extension was needed, given the high cost. She suggested widening the sidewalks that visitors currently use instead. 

“Keep the long-term vision of extending the seawalk to the rock dump as a long-term vision. We’re not there yet,” she said. “If you get another cruise ship and you have true demand at the Rock dump, we can fulfill the vision later. We do not need that expense now.”

City officials estimate the total price tag of the extension project will likely cost $20 to $25 million and construction is still likely a few years out. The city already has more than $7 million set aside for the project from marine passenger fees, but the Assembly will need to decide how to pay for the rest. It’s likely passenger fees will pay for most of it.

On a typical day at Bluff Point Golf Resort in Plattsburgh, N.Y., you used to be able to spot around 20 or 30 cars from Quebec or Ontario in the parking lot, according to owner Paul Dame.

But over the last several months, at the business just 25 minutes from the U.S.-Canada border, it has been more like one or two cars.

“It’s tough, because we’ve developed this relationship with the cross-border economy,” Dame said. “And now here we are, the rug getting pulled out from underneath us.”

New data confirms that far fewer Canadians are making trips south. Canadian residents made just 1.7 million return trips by motor vehicle back into their country from the U.S. in July, a nearly 37% drop from the same month in 2024, according to a report published this month by Statistics Canada.

The dip comes as relations are strained between the U.S. and Canada after President Trump vowed to make Canada a U.S. state earlier this year and imposed steep tariffs on his northern neighbor. Some worried that the tough political rhetoric — combined with a strong U.S. dollar — would damage an important source of U.S. tourism.

Data released by the U.S. government confirms a similar slide in Canadian travel. Canadians made just over 7 million visits to the U.S. between January and May, according to statistics published by the International Trade Administration. That’s a nearly 17% decrease compared with the same period in 2024, data shows.

The U.S. Travel Association said in an emailed statement to NPR that its “latest view continues to show a decline in travel from Canadian residents to the United States, consistent with the recent Canadian data released.”

Leah Mueller, vice president of sales and services at Visit Buffalo Niagara, said tourism companies in her region have been feeling the impact of a drop in Canadian travel too, from smaller tour groups to tour boats with fewer passengers.

“It’s a decline that’s not stopping things from happening, but it is affecting the revenue that people are collecting,” she said.

The U.S. saw 20.4 million visits from Canadians last year, making Canada the top source of international tourists to the United States, the U.S. Travel Association reported. The group said in February that those visits generated $20.5 billion in spending and supported 140,000 U.S. jobs.

There have been some efforts to soften the blow of the tourism slump.

In June, Maine Gov. Janet Mills made an official visit to Canada to urge Canadians to visit her border state. Maine, which saw nearly 800,000 Canadian visits in 2024, also installed new road signs welcoming travelers from the north, reading: “Bienvenue, Canadiens!”

Dame, the golf resort owner, said he has redirected some of his marketing efforts to other parts of New York and Vermont. But he said he hopes the U.S. and Canada can repair their relationship, and in the meantime he doesn’t blame his longtime Canadian customers for skipping their trips following the political attacks.

“It’s a very personal situation. They’ve been attacked personally, and it’s emotional,” he said. “It’s something that we would react [to] the same way if the opposite was happening to us.”

Juneau voters will decide whether the city should implement a new seasonal sales tax system. The Juneau Assembly approved the ballot question at a meeting Monday night. 

The city wants to take greater advantage of the 1.7 million cruise ship visitors that come to town every summer by increasing the local tax in those months. 

But, a handful of testifiers at the meeting, like Auke Bay resident Tom Williams, argued it’s not a good deal for year-round residents. 

“I have a question for you — what in the world are you doing?” he said. “I think you need to get back and start to go back and figure out who you work for, because all you’re doing with this seasonal sales tax approach is squeezing a balloon.”

Assembly members say the change is meant to capitalize on cruise ship tourism spending. Right now, Juneau has a fixed 5% local sales tax rate. It’s made up of both permanent and temporary taxes that help pay for general government costs, some specific voter-approved projects and community priorities like child care support. 

The proposed seasonal sales tax system would change that. It would bump the rate up to a 7.5% tax from April through September and then drop it down to a 3% tax from October through March. 

Nearby Southeast Alaska tourism towns like Ketchikan, Sitka and Skagway have already adopted similar seasonal tax structures. Deputy Mayor Greg Smith said he thinks Juneau would benefit by doing the same. 

“When we talked about doing this in December, it was to hopefully help people see and feel that ‘I’m going to be paying less in taxes, and my family will benefit due to tourism,’” he said. “A seasonal sales tax does that.”

Earlier this summer, Assembly members removed a part of the original proposal that would have used the additional revenue from the new system to offset the cost of removing local sales tax on food and utilities. That’s because an advocacy group called the Affordable Juneau Coalition gathered enough signatures this spring to put that question on the ballot already.

The coalition also got enough signatures for a ballot question asking whether to place a limit on the city’s property tax rate.

Angela Rodell, a member of the group, testified against the seasonal tax proposal on Monday. She argued it would financially hurt residents more than it would benefit them. 

“At a time when many in our community are already struggling with the rising cost of living, housing, food, childcare, and utilities, substantially increasing the sales tax for six months over the summer is not only ill-timed, it is fundamentally unaffordable for working families and individuals on fixed incomes,” she said. 

Assembly member Wade Bryson said the seasonal structure is needed to help recoup the estimated $9 million loss in annual sales tax revenue the city could face if sales tax is removed on food and utilities, which would happen if voters approve the measure. 

“Allowing the citizens to answer the questions at the same time gives the citizens — gives all the voters — a chance to say ‘yes or no,’ if they want a giant hole in the budget. Do they want all of our social services to go away?” he said. 

The city recently notified local organizations that receive city grants that it would be withholding a portion of their funding until the election due to “the potential of significant revenue loss” if the citizen initiatives pass. 

Those organizations include the Juneau Community Foundation, Juneau Arts and Humanities Council and KTOO. 

Voting in this year’s by-mail municipal election ends Oct. 7. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters beginning Sept.19.

The Juneau Assembly is moving forward with a plan to ask voters this fall whether to implement a new seasonal sales tax system next year. 

The proposed change is meant to capitalize on the 1.7 million cruise ship visitors that come to town each summer. The new structure would raise sales taxes in the summer months and lower them in the winter. 

Assembly members voted at a finance committee meeting on Wednesday to take public comment on the proposal later this month before deciding whether to put it on the October municipal ballot. 

Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs said she thinks the idea will be well-received by many in the community.

“In what is an increasingly seasonal economy, it makes sense to capture maximum yield when you have all these folks in town,” she said. 

Seasonal tax structures aren’t uncommon in tourism towns in the state. Other Southeast Alaska towns like Ketchikan, Sitka and Skagway have similar seasonal tax structures in place already.

Right now, Juneau levies a 5% local sales tax. That’s made up of both permanent and temporary taxes that help pay for general government costs, some specific voter-approved projects and community priorities. 

But if voters approve the proposed seasonal sales tax system, consumers would instead pay a 7.5% tax in the summer from April through September and a 3.5% tax in the winter from October through March. 

Members decided on Wednesday to remove a part of the original proposal that would have used the additional revenue from the new system to offset the cost of removing local sales tax on food and utilities. That’s because it would have basically mirrored another ballot measure that’s going before voters this fall.

Earlier this month, an advocacy group called the Affordable Juneau Coalition successfully gathered enough signatures to put two questions on the local ballot this fall. Both aim to lower the cost of living for residents, including whether to remove local sales tax on food and utilities.

A man was arrested twice in Juneau last month for fraud, theft and attempted escape. 

Enrico Ronquillo, 37, falsely impersonated a Californian citizen to board the Discovery Princess cruise ship in Seattle. State troopers arrested Ronquillo and charged him with false impersonation of a U.S. citizen, making and using a false document, and two counts of aggravated identity theft on May 14. 

A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection in Alaska says the incident is fairly uncommon and isn’t a trending problem. 

Over his four days on the cruise ship, he allegedly made large cash withdrawals with a stolen credit card at the ship’s casino. Ronquillo is a citizen of the Philippines who legally lives in the U.S.

According to the affidavit, an officer with Customs and Border Protection discovered the alleged crimes after looking for people on the ship who may be committing credit card fraud. 

That led officers to discover that the counterfeit documents used by Ronquillo had been used illegally before. Officers also realized that Ronquillo’s appearance did not match the photograph on the identification papers. 

The officers then escorted Ronquillo off the ship for further questioning at the Customs and Border Protection office in downtown Juneau. Customs and Border Protection has had a prior history with him, according to the affidavit.

Ronquillo admitted to the scheme during questioning and said he has committed similar crimes on cruise ships before. He told officers he was working with another person in Seattle and planned to split the cash with them. According to the affidavit, he charged nearly $20,000 to a credit card.

He had also booked a flight out of the Juneau International Airport on the same day he was arrested. 

Ronquillo was released on bail a few days after he was booked at Lemon Creek Correctional Center. Court documents say Ronquillo cut off his ankle monitor and attempted to flee Juneau. But the Juneau Police Department found him at the airport. Juneau Deputy Police Chief Krag Campbell says Ronquillo had made it through TSA and was waiting to board a flight before he was arrested. 

He is currently being held at the Lemon Creek Correctional Facility. His next readiness hearing is on July 16. 

National Park Service rangers recovered the body of a ski mountaineer on Wednesday who fell 3,000 feet to his death off the West Buttress of Denali.

The agency identified the victim as 41-year-old Alex Chiu of Seattle.

Denali National Park and Preserve spokesperson Amber Smigiel said it’s likely that Chiu died after he slipped from a ledge and fell onto the rocky face of the Peters Glacier.

“His body was found at the bottom of the 3,000-foot slope of the glacier,” she said.

In 2010, an un-roped French mountaineer fell to his death near the same location, park officials said.

Chiu was one of three ski mountaineers who set out on an expedition Monday to ascend the peak, recently renamed Mount McKinley by President Trump. When they reached the 12,000-foot level, two of the mountaineers saw Chiu fall at a spot along the icy and steep portion of the route called Squirrel Point.

Smigiel said the incident occurred while Chiu was descending, but she said park officials aren’t sure where they were headed.

“We still don’t know whether they were attempting to summit, whether they did summit. All we know is that he was on his descent,” she said.

According to park officials, the two remaining expedition members lowered themselves over the edge of the West Buttress as far as possible, but were unable to see or hear the missing mountaineer. So they descended the route to seek additional help, and on Tuesday afternoon were at Camp 1, where they were being treated and evaluated by a ranger team.

Smigiel said the two were planning to fly out of Base Camp 1 on Wednesday.

She said an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

The park service said there are currently 500 climbers on the mountain. The climbing season typically runs from early May to early July.