Out with the old - forever.

• Author: Dalby, Ron
• Position: Glacier Bay Tours and Cruises Inc.

Earlier this year, Goldbelt Inc., the Juneau-based Alaska Native village corporation, purchased Glacier Bay Tours & Cruises. Since then, Goldbelt has been working non-stop to polish what had become a tarnished image for the largest company providing tours to Glacier Bay at the northern edge of the Alaska Panhandle.

To put it bluntly, Glacier Bay Tours & Cruises had become extremely unpopular with travel agents and others in the past. Most complaints revolved around the slow payment of commissions for trips sold by independent agents and other tour operators.

"As of May 1996, we are a new company," said Jerre Fuqua, vice president of marketing and sales. "Unfortunately there are agents out there who have hesitated to work with us based on past experiences, such as paying commissions slowly. Our goal is to win them back and develop a positive relationship where they want to do business with us again. It's a matter of trust and mutual respect in this industry, and as we grow our company, we want agents to grow and prosper with us."

Having now completed its first season under new ownership, Glacier Bay Tours & Cruises is experiencing something that was rather rare in the past. Agents are telling Fuqua that working with Glacier Bay is now a very positive experience.

Probably no other company can offer as broad a range of experience in Glacier Bay as Goldbelt's new subsidiary. For starters, there is Glacier Bay Lodge, the only accommodation located within the national park. There are day-boat tours from Haines, Skagway and Juneau scheduled daily from May 5 to September 21, 1997. Then there are extended, small-ship cruises of two, three, four, five, six or 10 nights' duration on...