Seasonal visitor industry job market: winter hiring for summer staffing is the norm.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: VISITOR INDUSTRY

Alaska is in many ways a land of extremes. In the winter it's cold, dark, and mostly white, and in the summer the landscape transforms to explode with color, lit up by seemingly endless hours of sunlight. This transformation is echoed in the tourism industry; before summer fully hits, as the sun climbs its way into the sky earlier each morning and sets itself a later curfew each night, the Alaska visitor industry is busy preparing to welcome a flood of guests.

In January, Visit Anchorage CEO Julie Saupe presented the annual "Report to the Community," a review of some of the highlights of the 2014 year in Anchorage: bed tax collections were estimated to be $24.2 million (a record year, the fifth year of growth); the estimated economic impact of meetings in Anchorage alone was $98.1 million, stemming from an average of fifty-five meetings per month in Anchorage's convention centers, with a total of 662 events held in 2014; looking forward, in 2014 $91 million was secured in future conventions. Saupe said, "There's a lot to be excited about in 2015."

Statewide, the industry continues to grow. The previous year saw 1.96 million visitors spend $1.8 billion for an economic impact of $3.9 billion, with $1.3 billion classified as labor income and $179 million as taxes and revenues according to the Alaska Division of Economic Development (ADED). In a recent report, ADED found there were 1.66 million out-of-state visitors between May and September 2014.

The Season Begins When it Ends

The visitor industry, in Anchorage and throughout the state, is appropriately powered by people, about 46,500 at peak season, according to ADED. By the time the cruise ships come into port and branded hats and polo shirts are being sold or handed out to employees, visitor industry businesses have already advertised for, offered positions to, and trained the summer workforce, starting as early as the end of the previous season.

Holland American Line-Princess Cruises is a huge presence in the Alaska tourism market; according to Roma Rowland, manager of Human Resources HAP Alaska-Yukon, in order to find the employees they need for the season they "start recruiting in September for the following summer," to find staff for their five seasonal lodges (Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge, Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge, and Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge) that span the state as well as their numerous cruises that explore Alaska's waterways and ports.

Gideon Garcia, chief operating...