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Alaska Travel Industry Association: $5M state marketing produced an estimated $378 in visitor spending per $1 spent
Summary
At a Feb. 11 presentation to the House Finance subcommittee in Juneau, ATIA President and CEO Jillian Simpson described how a $5.75 million marketing program (including a $5 million state grant) supports visitor growth, generates vehicle rental tax revenue and produces a high measured return on advertising spend.
Juneau — Jillian Simpson, president and CEO of the Alaska Travel Industry Association, told the House Finance subcommittee Feb. 11 that the state’s $5 million marketing grant is a high‑return investment that helped attract visitors whose spending generated state tax revenue.
“For the record, I'm Jillian Simpson, the president and CEO of the Alaska Travel Industry Association,” Simpson said, opening the presentation. She told the subcommittee ATIA is a private nonprofit contracted by the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development to operate Alaska’s destination marketing program.
Simpson said ATIA operated on a $5.75 million marketing budget in the current fiscal year: $5 million from a state grant and $750,000 from industry cooperative marketing purchases. She cited research showing 3 million visitors came to Alaska in the previous year, with cruise passengers accounting for 57 percent of year‑round visitors.
On campaign effectiveness, Simpson reported results from ATIA’s ad effectiveness study and other measurement: consumers who saw ATIA ads were twice as likely to visit Alaska as those who had not, and ATIA’s analysis estimated $378 in visitor spending for every $1 the program spent on advertising. Simpson said those figures translated to approximately $157 million in state revenue attributable to out‑of‑state visitors, including an estimated $15 million collected from the vehicle rental tax, about 70 percent of which she said stems from out‑of‑state visitors.
Simpson described a mix of tactics: paid media (roughly half the budget), earned public relations and content, trade outreach and digital tracking through partners such as Adara and TripAdvisor. She highlighted programs targeting independent (non‑cruise) visitors, who typically stay longer and spend more, as well as a cultural tourism line item and a sustainable tourism certification program (Adventure Green Alaska).
ATIA said its digital campaigns can be tracked from ad exposure to booking and subsequent spend; Simpson offered an example in which a $200,000 TripAdvisor campaign corresponded with roughly $7.2 million in travel spending to Alaska, as measured by bookings and referrals.
Committee members asked about return on investment to Alaska‑based businesses and whether marketing dollars flowed to local content producers. Simpson said most storytellers and photographers hired are Alaskan, that ATIA engages a local public relations firm in Anchorage, and that state marketing funds are invested in statewide consumer marketing while ATIA’s trade association revenues fund business development services for Alaska companies.
No votes or formal committee actions were recorded at the hearing. Simpson and lawmakers agreed to follow up on some data questions after the session.
