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TAB hears tourism director update, funding for Free Ride and survey finding preference for smaller cruise ships; nonvoting member appointed
Summary
The tourism director reported on Free Ride funding and community events, presented survey takeaways favoring smaller cruise ships and PC Dock improvements, and the board appointed Sabrina Harvey as a nonvoting TAB member.
The Haines Borough Tourism Advisory Board on March 5 received a department update on staffing, the upcoming Free Ride World Tour and a 2025 cruise‑industry survey that the director said shows community support for smaller cruise ships and caution about accommodating very large vessels.
Tourism director reported the borough had "paid out 75 k to the Free Ride entity" to help host the event and listed local financial support: "We did get a $25,000 donation from BISLA Copper, $5,000 from First National Bank of Alaska, and $2,000 from Delta Western," and thanked community partners helping with transportation and in‑kind support. She said competition day is scheduled for March 15 and that packets describing public events would be published ahead of the weekend.
On the cruise survey, the director said survey results and community feedback argue against allowing post‑Panamax ships in Haines: "we do not want those post Panamax sized ships, the ones that hold 4 to 5,000 passengers plus crew." Board members discussed infrastructure limits at the PC Dock, gangway/tendering problems and whether to prioritize mid‑size vessels when planning dock revitalization.
Chair noted last summer the port recorded 114 cruise ship calls and about 67,833 visitors, and members discussed using the McDowell Group's baseline economics tourism section at a future meeting to better quantify tourism's contributions to local revenue and business planning.
The board also voted to appoint Sabrina Harvey as a nonvoting TAB member after she introduced herself as a local tourism professional and parent. The motion was seconded and received verbal support during roll call; staff said appointment details will be finalized at meeting end.
TAB identified several agenda items for coming meetings including insurance for special events, RM SA/user‑fee questions for Chilkat Lake road users, and a planned Title 5 working group to prepare code recommendations for CRC review.
