Kodiak doesn’t get as many cruise ships as panhandle communities like Juneau or Ketchikan, so it’s kind of a big deal when one stops by. And this week was the busiest stretch on the schedule for the 2024 season, with four boats passing through town.
The Viking Orion brought 930 passengers on May 5, Westerdam brought 1916 passengers on May 6, the Silver Shadow brought 382 passengers on May 9, and the Niew Amsterdam brought 2106 passengers on May 10.
Brock Simmons is the executive director of Discover Kodiak, the local tourism bureau. He told the Kodiak City Council in its work session on May 7 that tourism is on the rise.
“It’s definitely taking off and it’s getting more busy,” he said. “I think we need to keep in mind, as we go forward, how and what we provide to those tourists to make it a really good experience.”
Alaska is seeing a boom in cruise ship tourism right now. Kodiak had its largest season since the pandemic in 2023 with 23 small and large cruise ships, and 22 are expected to visit the island in 2024.
Not every community has enjoyed having more ships. Sitka residents have been trying to limit of tourism on their island.
Simmons said it’s an opportunity to boost Kodiak’s economy.
“Everybody’s saying how pretty and pristine our island is and how welcoming it is and I think we need to capitalize on that,” he said. “We are a very unique place and we need to decide what operations we develop and what functions we want to have to continue to grow that unique tourism environment.”
Fifteen more cruise ship visits are scheduled until the season ends on October 15.
The next ship, Silver Muse, is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday (May 15) with 691 more tourists.