Tourism burns bright.

• Author: Woodring, Jeannie
• Position: Alaska

Again in 1995, Alaska welcomes a record number of tourists - and next year promises to be even bigger. With cruise ships continuing to bring the most visitors, the booming tourist trade fires up business in all regions of the state.

For most of the years since its establishment as a national park by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, the 580,000-acre Kenai Fjords National Park in southcentral Alaska slumbered. Each year, only a few thousand visitors saw its glaciers crack into icebergs, its whales cavort in ice-blue waters and moose wander through its dense forests.

In the 1990s, however, the tranquility of Kenai Fjords National Park began to change. Park headquarters counted 70,000 visitors that year. In 1991, 37 cruise ships pulled into Seward. By 1992, the park counted 108,019 visitors in its short summer season. Two years later, that number jumped to a record 210,741.

And that's only the start of the wildfire tourism rush destined for the lush Kenai wilderness area. At park headquarters in Seward, Maria Gillett, chief of interpretation and education, says, "1996 will be substantially bigger than 1995. This year, 112 cruise ships are docking in Seward. In 1996, there will be 155 cruise ships coming in."

The same story will replay all across Alaska this summer. After receiving a record tourist crowd in 1994 estimated at 1.1 million, Alaska expects to greet even more visitors this year. Looking ahead a year or two, there's no end to the flood of vacationers pouring into the Great Land each summer.

In Anchorage, for example, hotels are once again filling up fast with summer guests. Over at the Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau, Ken Morris, head of public relations, says that based on an increase in phone and written inquiries, Anchorage can expect a 5 percent to 10 percent increase in tourists this summer.

Up in Fairbanks, Carol Lay, manager of community and membership relations at the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau, says, "We are hearing that bookings are very solid and are up over last year. ... Bed-and-breakfast people are telling me their bookings are up much more so than normal. And inquiries are up, about 4 percent over last year."

Southeast Alaska reports the same story as it booms with the cruise line industry. Ketchikan, expecting a 2 percent increase in cruise dockings this year, has responded with new visitor activities, like a city walking tour sponsored by the Ketchikan Indian Corp. This summer, the U.S. Forest service also plans to open its Southeast Alaska Visitor Center on Ketchikan's waterfront. Functioning as an interpretation center for the Tongass National Forest, the facility will offer first-class exhibits of Southeast flora and fauna.

In Juneau, tourism has grown 12.8 percent annually since 1989. Cruise dockings this year are up 5 percent from 1994. Juneau businesses respond by expanding their line of...