Governor Mike Dunleavy announced Friday afternoon that his government was working on a relief effort for Alaska’s tourism industry, which will include a national tourism promotion campaign and aid to tourism companies and communities, but gave few details about how much the project will cost or how it will cost will be implemented.

At the time of going to press on Friday, the governor’s office had not yet announced the date for next week’s press conference on the tourism initiative.

The initiative will include “an expansive national tourism campaign, great relief for tourism communities and businesses, and a willingness to take legal action against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) if the Conditional Sailing Ordinance is not lifted,” governor’s press release on Friday.

Dunleavy spoke about the beauty of Alaska from the hangar of Juneau airline Wings Airways on Friday afternoon, praising the COVID-19 vaccination. The state’s upcoming advertising campaign will focus on these aspects of the state’s recovery.

“The state will take it upon itself to really get into the promotional game, raise as much resources as possible,” said Dunleavy, “where vaccination rates are the highest in the nation, where The People are.” are safe and where you are safe when you get here. “

In the first few weeks of the year, Alaska had vaccinated more of its total population with at least one dose of vaccine than any other state in the country, but it has since slipped up the ranking for that metric.

On Friday evening, Alaska ranked 10th in the country for vaccine doses given to its population per 100,000 residents, according to the CDC.

On Thursday evening, for the past 14 days, Alaska’s health authorities recorded an average of 23.8 new cases per 100,000 people per day. The state’s COVID-19 alert level remained high.

As part of the measure, Lt. Governor Kevin Meyer and “other members of the Dunleavy Administration” visit tourism-dependent communities, including some in Southeast Alaska, Denali, the Kenai Peninsula, and the Mat-Su Valley, “to listen to community groups about their needs and report to lawmakers about the results, “says the press release.

The initiative would also instruct the federal COVID-19 relief fund “to provide grants to tourism companies and create incentives for travelers,” said Friday’s press release. Dunleavy on Friday did not estimate how much grant would be made available and did not provide examples of the incentives the state is considering.

He said “some” of the funding for the project would come from government relief efforts, possibly including last year’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, and the recently passed American Recovery Plan Act.

Dunleavy said that if the CDC did not cancel its conditional sailing order for Alaska’s cruises, he would consider signing a recent lawsuit against the CDC, “and everything else we have on the table.”

“The message I would give to the CDC, and the message I would give to Congress, the message I would give to the President, is this: give us the opportunity to demonstrate again that we know what we do do, “said Dunleavy. “While we appreciate the advice – and that’s all I think should be from the CDC – we know what we’re doing here. … We know how to do these things in Alaska. Probably a lot better, and I’m not offending, but probably much better than the CDC. “

The governor also referred to the recently passed Joint Senate Resolution 9, sponsored by Juneau Democratic Senator Jesse Kiehl, which urges Congress to temporarily waive the Passenger Shipping Services Act so that large cruise lines can last for as long as possible to travel directly between Alaska and the Lower 48 Canada is sticking to its ban on large cruise ships in Canadian waters. The Canadian ban is currently in effect until February 28, 2022.

Without this waiver, cruises would not be able to visit Alaska this summer, even if the CDC canceled their conditional sailing orders.

Members of the Alaskan federal delegation have taken steps in both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate to temporarily waive the PSVA for travel between Alaska and Washington.

The Alaska Travel Industry Association responded positively to the governor’s announcement.

“The Alaska Travel Industry Association (ATIA) was thrilled that Alaska Governor Dunleavy signed SJR 9,” ATIA wrote in a press release Friday. “Going another year without big ships would mean losing jobs and entire businesses, but with the governor’s proposal to save the 2021 Alaskan tourism season, there is hope.”

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