Sitka, Alaska Rejects Proposed Cruise Ship Limits

There has been a growing focus in many destinations around the world on the challenges as cruise ships get larger and efforts to limit or even ban large cruise ships grow. A small town in southern Alaska, Sitka (population 8,300) however bucked the trend by rejecting proposed cruise ship limits.

A popular cruise ship destination because of its heritage as a Russian outpost in Alaska, Sitka like many ports has grappled with the surge of passengers during the summer busy season. The cruise passenger problem has grown more acute in the small town as the number of visitors more than doubled over two seasons in the years 2022 and 2023. At its peak, the city can receive as many as 13,000 or more visitors a day so that they exceed the number of residents.

Opponents of the cruise ships have been fighting for years to have a public referendum, and they succeeded on their fourth try with a special election called for May 28. The sole issue on the ballot was proposed limits on cruise ships. They called for a daily limit of 4,500 visitors and an annual limit of 300,000 visitors. In addition, they were proposing implementing a permitting system for ship visits and requiring that one day each week be without large cruise ships.

Town fathers however surprised with a total of nearly 3,000 votes cast, higher than the last regular elections and less than 10 percent from their all-time high for a special election. The unofficial results showed 73 percent of the people rejected the limits with only 27 percent (773 people) voting in favor of the proposed limits.

Efforts to Address Overcrowding

The private operator of the dock admitted that more than a quarter of the voters supported limits and is working with the town on possible solutions. Historically, Sitka was an anchorage port with passengers having to land by tender which helped to disperse some of the crowds. The dock, which handles two large cruise ships at a time, requires shuttle buses as it is five miles away, and that people say is part of the problem creating congestion.

The dock operator and tour operators report they are working to build more options to better disperse passengers. They are also working with the cruise lines to stagger the arrival and departure times of the ships and brought in new smaller shuttle buses to also disperse the crowds. Also in a memorandum of understanding with the city, they proposed a limit of 7,000 daily passengers and not accepting ships with more than 1,000 passengers at the dock when the limit would be surpassed.

Alaska’s Growing Tourism Industry

In 2024, an estimated 1.68 million cruise passengers visited Southeast Alaska, making it a record year for tourism in the region. The Alaska Travel Industry Association however calculates when cross-gulf and other destinations are included along with the ferries the total in 2024 was 1.785 million people by ship which was two-thirds of the total 2.7 million visitors to the state in 2024.

Some early forecasts for the 2025 season which began in April projected a leveling off this year due to capacity constraints, but the Port of Settle forecasted the number could reach as high as 1.9 million cruise visitors from May through October 2025. The following year, 2026, will see further growth as both MSC Cruises and Virgin Voyages launch their first Alaska seasons and for 2027 MSC’s luxury brand Explora Journeys has also announced it will be joining the market. Most analysts agree that Alaska will remain one of the top summer cruise destinations.