The members of Alaska’s congressional delegation are working to help large cruise ships return to Alaskan waters soon after Canada extended its ban on cruises until 2022. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan addressed the Senate floor on April 29th to pitch the Alaska Tourism Recovery Act: a bill that, if passed, gives the green light to this summer’s cruise season by allowing ships to sail Alaska without stopping in Canada. Although legislation has far to go before becoming law, the senators are optimistic that their efforts are gaining momentum.

Saving the cruise industry

“Back home right now people are not talking about the season for 2021 coming up; the motto is ‘get through to ’22.’ That’s an awful way to be approaching our situation,” Murkowski said. “It’s jobs; it’s livelihoods and it really is what allows our small communities to keep their doors open,” she said regarding the tourism industry. Murkowski is taking multiple approaches to gain support for the bill, including talking with Canadian officials to encourage them to “meet us halfway.”

Impact of the ban

Canada’s cruise ban has negatively impacted cruise liners, ports, and other stakeholders. “Cruise represents 70% of our annual revenues, which supports our operations across all properties,” said the Great Victoria Harbour Authority. “Cruise supports 800 indirect and direct jobs in Victoria and contributes more than CAD130 million to the regional economy each year. We also want to acknowledge that dozens of cruise-related small businesses and their staff members in Greater Victoria are deeply impacted by the loss of cruise this year.” Indeed, cruises have long-been a favored vacation experience across all demographics. In particular, cruises are a popular way of celebrating milestone birthdays and other significant life events, with experiences (as opposed to objects) often being cited as memorable gifts for significant birthdays. 

Scrapping cruise season

The port of Halifax and other authorities have canceled their cruise seasons completely. “We hope to have an opportunity to revisit this timeline and demonstrate our ability to address Covid-19 in a cruise setting with science-backed measures, as CLIA members are doing in Europe and parts of Asia where cruising has resumed on a limited basis,” said the Cruise Lines International Association – North West & Canada. Alternatively, Princess Cruises has delayed its cruise season to 27th June, while Holland America is on-hold until at least July.

“Right now, here on the Senate floor, there’s actually been momentum and movement, and I’m confident we can get there,” said Sullivan regarding the Act. “Even with the CDC, we are starting to see progress with them. We are going to continue to fight and continue to try to move this. Do not give up, Alaska, on our summer tourism season. We haven’t. To the contrary, we’ve made progress. We’re not there yet.”

Photo by Danika Perkinson on Unsplash