Haines Hitchup RV Photo by Roger Maynard
by Roger Maynard
HAINES — If Haines seems a little busier this year, it could be a slight increase in independent tourists in campers and motorhomes. On any summer day the parking lot at the Visitor’s Center can be found half-full of RV’s, their owners looking for information—or just looking around town.
There’s no doubt that last year was a slow year for visitors traveling by highway. According to a recently released study by the McDowell Group, highway travelers were down by 7.8 percent. The amount spent per traveler was down significantly as well.
So yesterday, when the Anchorage Daily News reported that Alaska is seeing a rise in independent tourists we were ready and willing to see a bright spot in our tourist economy. But the numbers may not justify the hype.
Statistics from our Haines Convention and Visitor’s bureau show highway traffic of 4944 vehicles over the 4858 vehicles during the same month last year, while cruise ship passengers continue to lag behind last years’ numbers for the year. Skagway CVB also is reporting a slight increase in vehicle traffic.
Christy Tengs Fowler, owner of the Pioneer Bar/Bamboo Room Restaurant says, however, that her business is still down from previous years. “The best year that I remember was 2000,” she says, “Then, we had 4 ships a week, and things were pretty busy.”
Fred Bretthauer, owner of Haines Hitch-up RV puts the present numbers in perspective. “We’ve been here for 16 years. During our best years we were full part of the time every summer. There was a 50-place RV park across the road and they were full. The RV Park in Fort Seward was full, and so was the RV park on the waterfront.”
Now, the park across the highway is gone, the Fort Seward Park is empty and last year, Bretthauer says, he was about a third full. “We had a pretty good June, then July started out slow, but it’s picked up now.”
But the town doesn’t really serve tourists like they could, according to Bretthauer. For example, there were no museums open last Sunday. “Tourists don’t take Sunday’s off. They don’t sit around with their feet up. They want to do stuff.”
“There may be people traveling to Alaska,” he says, “and we may not see the full impact in Haines – it’s not on the beaten path. We need to convince people to take the turn at Haines Junction and come to Haines.” He also points out that border crossing numbers don’t tell much of a story, because the vehicles are not categorized by type.
Regarding the increased highway numbers this year he probably echoes the community sentiment, “I’m cautiously optimistic. I hope it’s the beginning of a turnaround, but only time will tell.”
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