Borough approves cruise study
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The McDowell Group of Juneau will conduct a $19,900 Haines cruise passenger study this summer.
The Haines Borough Assembly on June 14 approved the contract in a 4-1 vote, with member Scott Rossman opposed. He questioned whether the study would be "another survey to spend money, so that the McDowell Group can make money."
"In order to target the types of visitors to help make (a) decision at the corporate level, it’s important to find out what the visitors to Haines are looking for, and what are the strengths and what are the weaknesses of the community as a cruise ship destination," said borough manager Mark Earnest. "The way you do that is to survey the passengers."
He said cruise ship head tax funds would finance the study.
The assembly on June 14 added money for the study into the fiscal year 2011 budget through an amendment.
"We will need to move quickly in order to survey as many ships of the season as possible," Tanya Carlson, tourism director, wrote in a memo. "We will miss the first three ships but will need to get going as soon as possible in June."
Earnest noted the assembly also recently approved a resolution for a "Backroads Alaska" campaign that promotes Haines, Hoonah and Sitka as cruise destinations.
According to a proposal from the McDowell Group dated May 18, the Haines cruise passenger study would include two separate surveys - an intercept survey of 200 randomly-selected passengers aboard approximately 10 to 12 ships calling at Haines throughout the summer; and a self-administered survey of passengers onboard fast ferries sailing to Skagway.
Carlson said similar studies have been done in Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and Skagway.
"It is to get the feel of what the cruise passengers see when they come here, because we can look outside and say, ‘Oh, we don’t need this or they’ll do fine without that,’ but what they feel is completely different," she said.
