The last ship of the cruise season set sail from the port of Juneau, Alaska at 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 2.
The Cruise Line Agencies of the state’s calendar for 2019 showed that Norwegian Jewel will be the only vessel to visit Juneau on Wednesday, as well as the last until next spring.
The final numbers are not in yet but in 2019 the number of cruisers to visit Juneau is, “just under 1.3” million, Liz Perry, president & CEO of the private tourism industry group, Travel Juneau, said.
According to a visitor survey for 2018 from an Alaska-based analytics company, McDowell Group, 1.15M cruise passengers came through Juneau last year. Those numbers have been increasing every year since 2010 after almost 900,000 cruise passengers arrived.
According to the same study, the average spending per ship customer is US$162. When multiplied by 1.3 million, that is more than US$210 million.
Despite the money they bring in, liners are not beloved by all in the port city, as Juneau grapples with over-tourism and environmental issues.
The first cruise ship of 2020 is scheduled to arrive on April 24.