Skagway is pushing the one million mark for cruise ship passengers this year. Those passengers feed the success of Klondike National Historical Park and White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad.
It will be another busy summer for cruise ships in Skagway this year. The municipality will greet nearly 450 arrivals from 35 cruise ships.
Tourism Director Cody Jennings says she’s expecting the most cruise ship passengers Skagway has ever seen in a season. The estimated passenger count is just under a million, but she says sometimes the final count is more than the estimate.
“Anything is possible. But as far as cruise passengers we are just pushing that million passenger mark,” she said.
A handful of new ships will dock in Skagway this year and the municipality anticipates about 75,000 more visitors than last year. The increase over last year is more than the total number of passengers anticipated this season in Haines. Cruise ship season is longer this year: it will start at the end of April and run through early October.
Two big draws for visitors to Skagway are the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park and White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad. Jason Verhaeghe is the Interpretation and Education Program Manager for the park. He anticipates breaking that one million visitor mark this season:
“Most certainly! Skagway as a community is expecting an increase in visitation this year with more ships coming at a more frequent rate, so I do think we will see an increase in our numbers.”
He says the number of visitors to the park is directly linked to cruise ship traffic. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical park was the most visited National Park in Alaska last year by a significant margin. Verhaeghe says the park benefits from its location. If you walk around downtown chances are you will enter the park without even knowing it! That, and the staff is knowledgeable about local history.
Part of that history that persists is the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad. Trains that once hauled miners to the gold fields now haul tourists up the scenic pass. White Pass Human Resources Director Tyler Rose says they are also projecting an increase in visitors, so they have a few upgrades for the season.
“Our new operating plan that we’ve put into place, that uptick should have less of an effect on our operation and the community as a whole. To try to take on increased visitors and not have as big an impact on the community by keeping that traffic flowing,” he said.
He says the new operating plan should reduce the impact of increased traffic on the community because trains will operate continuously rather than all leaving the station at the same time. He says it should keep downtown traffic flowing.
Last year they had just under half a million riders. White Pass is completing work on two new mooring dolphins on the railroad dock to accommodate larger ships that bring tourists to the trains. They even have an old train coming back to the station.
“The ’73 steam locomotive is coming back. It went out for a fifteen year rebuild. So we’re gonna have that back this summer and we’re really excited about that: ‘73 is the pride of the fleet,” said Rose.
Skagway will host up to almost 13,000 visitors per day when mega ships arrive at the docks. It’s a boon to the economy, but a strain on infrastructure. Skagway has fewer the 1,000 year round residents, so sewer, water and garbage are challenges with ten thousand visitor days. Jennings says the Public Works committee is working hard to meet the challenges.