Driving Economic and Quality-of-Life Benefits Through Travel

Travel is huge for Anchorage’s economy and quality of life. Anchorage’s appeals in the eyes of travelers range from trails, parklands, and wildlife to fine art and top restaurants. But despite the allure, a visit doesn’t happen on its own. Visit Anchorage’s strategic approach to educating, attracting, and serving travelers unlocks the benefits of tourism for the community.

A traveler steps into the log cabin visitor center at 4th Avenue and F Street in Anchorage. A parky-clad volunteer greets them and strikes up a conversation, asking what they hope to see and do in Alaska. Together they’ll pore over maps, pick out brochures for activities, and find a few restaurant recommendations. The scene repeats. On a busy day, 1,500 people will come into the visitor center.

For residents, the picturesque cabin is the most visible element of Visit Anchorage. More than 177,000 people visit it annually. But the story of a traveler dropping by actually started months or even years ago. And it’s likely the visit to the log cabin – or the visitor center in the Anchorage airport – isn’t their first interaction with Visit Anchorage.

Perhaps the Chugach Mountains soared across their screen while they streamed a show at home. They might have browsed to an ad on their phone showing off Anchorage’s cultural attractions paired with easy access to the outdoors and trails. Or they flipped through the Official Guide to Anchorage that arrived in the mail and decided it was time to finally visit. They might even have received a postcard from a relative, raving about their recent experiences in Anchorage. In all these cases Visit Anchorage plays a part and brings economic and social benefits to residents and local businesses through tourism.

Committed to Community

Tourism has a significant role in Anchorage’s economy. On average, a traveler spends approximately $1,500 in the community during a visit, on top of their travel to get to Anchorage. Meetings and conventions alone generate more than $134 million annually in spending in the community. Tourism is one of every nine jobs. And the community benefits in other ways – travel generates more than $53 million annually in local taxes on hotel stays and car rentals.

But it all stems from a decision to visit, and often a visit begins with Visit Anchorage inspiring the trip.

Visit Anchorage is a not-for-profit organization tasked with promoting the area – from Portage to Eklutna and Cook Inlet into the Chugach Range – as a place to visit, either on vacation or as part of a meeting or convention. Originally called the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau, the entity was created by tourism companies in 1975 to generate more business through visitation. Marketing is funded by a portion of the hotel tax, approved by residents in the 1970’s and paid for by travelers who stay in local hotels, and by private sector support from the industry.

Visit Anchorage President and CEO Julie Saupe sums it up succinctly: “We talk to visitors, but we work for residents.”

Most of Alaska’s tourism companies are small businesses, and many are owner-operated or have just a handful of employees. Tourism is one of Alaska’s largest industries in terms of jobs and revenue, but also one of its most entrepreneurial.

It would be impossible for any one of those businesses to reach a national and global audience alone. By focusing efforts through Visit Anchorage, tourism businesses and the whole community can reach more potential visitors with a compelling, unified message.

With this approach, tourism has flourished for nearly half a century, a self-sustaining model that reinvests in future programs, while at the same time maintaining and improving the Anchorage Convention Centers, and also paying straight into the city’s general fund, fueling all kinds of government services.

Right Audience, Right Message, Right Time

The competition for visitors is fierce, global, and always on.

“We all know Alaska is an incredible place. But there’s a whole planet of incredible places. It’s critical that we be savvy and strategic about finding the right people, at the right time, with a message that resonates, and ultimately spurs them to pick our community,” says Saupe.

Visit Anchorage serves up more than 238 million ad impressions to potential travelers in a year. They also train more than 10,000 travel advisors on how to book Alaska for their own customers, and draw 1.6 million people to Anchorage.net every year.

“Get them aware of what Anchorage has to offer, to book Anchorage when they are ready to travel, and make sure they understand what’s here,” says Saupe. “That way, their trip is an incredible experience, and the community gets the maximum benefit from their visit.”

That work is year-round and showcases the community in all seasons. Visit Anchorage has focused on booking Outside meetings since its inception, a business that skews to fall, winter, and spring.

“Every season is visitor season,” says Saupe. “The growth of seasonal offerings in Anchorage like aurora tours and dogsledding trips, and year-round offerings like flightseeing and food tours, museums, and Broadway shows helps us be an attractive place for visits from October through April too. It’s also in part an outcome of our promoting those months to potential travelers.”

Inspiring More than a Vacation

The numbers are impressive, and there are benefits that can’t be counted in numbers alone.

Anchorage residents enjoy more flight options and frequency because of visitation. Restaurants stay open year-round knowing they’ll serve meals to convention delegates in fall, winter, and spring and can count on solid profits in summer. Visitors provide a base of business for new companies to start up or for established companies to test new offerings.

A long running study by Longwoods International also suggests that travel ads have a positive “halo” effect on economic development. Audiences exposed to travel ads for a place are more likely to perceive the community is also a good place to invest, start a business, go to college in, or move to.

Visit Anchorage’s work began in 1975. 2025 will mark 50 years in operation for the company. “It’s a milestone, and it’s a chance for us to look back at decades of results that benefit locals,” says Saupe. “But I’m just as excited about looking ahead, and how we can harness travel and tourism to make this an even better place for all of us living here.”