Visit Anchorage Annual Report
2023 In Review
2023 was an exceptional year for Anchorage travel and tourism. Annual passenger counts at the Anchorage airport exceeded 2019 levels for the year, as did cross gulf-cruise capacity during the summer. Anchorage saw it's best year for hotel revenue - and by extension bed tax collections rose to $44.8 million as well. Demand for hotel rooms in Anchorage decreased slightly year-over-year, but was still among one of the best years on record.
A stated traveler desire for Alaska's type of products, experiences, and offerings, and - particularly encouraging - stated interest and intent to travel for Alaska and Anchorage specifically all bolstered returns from tourism. The community's marketing and promotions efforts before domestic and leisure travelers continue to drive demand through a diverse array of advertising, sales, and earned media efforts. As a result, in 2023, Anchorage saw:
- $55.5 million in MOA tax collections from travel and tourism (hotel bed tax collections and local car and RV rental taxes; does not include local property taxes paid by industry or state level tax collections related to tourism).
- $134 million in direct economic spending in the community from meetings, events, and conventions, an all time record.
- More than 238 million ad impressions served to potential travelers
- 10,427 travel advisors trained
- More than 117,300 views of the Official Guide to Anchorage
- 1.6 million views of Anchorage.net
- 177,737 visitors to Anchorage Visitor Information Centers
A full recap of 2023 was presented as one element of the Report to the Community on February 8, 2024.
2024 Outlook
People continue to prioritize travel and plan trips. It has been suggested that if people do scale back overall spending and become more cost-sensitive, they would scale back first on buying physical goods and preserve and prioritize experiences, like travel.
Anchorage will compete in a crowded, competitive marketplace for traveler attention and spending. Most U.S. destinations got back to pre-pandemic levels of visitation and visitor spending in 2023 or will in 2024. Anchorage capitalized on a head start to recovery thanks to assistance from local, state, and federal leaders during the worst of the pandemic. But that advantage and head start is now gone. That crowded, competitive – well-funded – competition for traveler attention is back. Similarly, the post pandemic snapback - commonly referred to as "revenge travel" appears to have run its course. Travel is still a priority for people, but the “go big, go now” mentality is mostly out of our system.
International travel has historically played a modest role in Alaska visitation, with 8-10% of travelers coming from outside of North America, though spending significantly more time and money than average during their visit to Alaska. Traveler uncertainty about long-distance travel and concerns about navigating health requirements have subsided. However a strong dollar may simultaneously discourage international travelers from a visit to the U.S. and simultaneously make overseas trips more enticing for Americans, adding more competition alongside a trip to the Great Land.
Visit Anchorage 2024 Scope of Work
Luckily, the community has a $11.4 million dollar promotional effort going into the market for 2024. Highlights of the work in 2024 will include:
- Increases to digital advertising buys to include pay-per-click, digital display ads, national TV streaming and audio platforms, and e-communications efforts.
- Emphasis on earned media through travel journalist outreach, media pitching, and promotional partnerships.
- Production of new video and photo assets for future use in promotional efforts.
- Updated research focused on traveler sentiment on Anchorage and visitor demographics, travel habits, and satisfaction.
- Emphasis on growth of non-summer visitation via meetings and conventions and enhanced consumer promotional efforts packaging holiday, solstice, and winter festivities in Anchorage.
- Expansion of sales efforts before travel trade, convention and meeting planners, and consumer audiences in the domestic markets and resumption of some overseas programs paused during COVID.
Visit Anchorage Financials
2023 Balance Sheet
Net Assets
Balance Forward: $13,827,287.49
Restricted Investments: $101,878.72
Net Capital Assets: $2,717,889.89
Current Liabilities: $1,529,931.14
Total Assets: $15,658,448
