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• Position: Statistics and review of Alaska's travel industry - Tourism - Brief Article

"Ecotourism," or "soft adventure," has become the fastest growing segment of the Alaska visitor industry, according to Ray Pedersen, president of the Alaska Visitors Association, an Alaska tourism industry trade organization. He also reports that the average Alaska visitor is getting younger, shifting from 55 years and older to 45 years of age.

Citing these and other changes in the state's visitor industry, Pedersen announced recently that AVA has commissioned a $280,000, year-long study to chart the direction of Alaskan tourism into the 21st century. John Kelsh, a principal of International Tourism & Resort Advisors of San Francisco, Calif., the consortium hired by AVA for the study, says, "These new realities include shifts in age, income, point of origin and length of time preferred by tourists now coming to Alaska."

According to Pedersen, the single most important consideration for the visitor industry is the attitude of individual Alaskans toward tourists. To reflect this concern, the survey will...