Destination Stewardship

Sustainability: It’s a Driving Force

Whales “bubble feeding” in Icy Strait. Photo courtesy Icy Strait Point.

Cruise ship travel allows people of all socio-economic ranges and physical abilities to visit Alaska’s ports and communities with ease, CLIA Alaska’s Renée Limoge Reeve said in a presentation to the Southeast Conference.

“They can immerse themselves in a culture that they never had any history with, they can see things like glaciers — like the things we wake up and look out the window and see every day,” Reeve said. “We change people’s lives with that.”

An important question for Alaska’s visitor industry is “how do we continue to do that, and do we continue to do it well?”

One component that will answer that question is that CLIA member cruise lines have committed to pursuing net-zero carbon cruising by 2050.

“Sustainability continues to be a driving force for our industry,” she said. “Not just sustainability of the ships and of cruising but also of the destinations that we come to.”

Reeve listed several improvements that cruise companies have made to their ships with sustainability in mind, such a lower-friction hull paint, LED lighting, and the use of solar panels to power the lighting. Alternative fuels also are being researched, and several CLIA member ships already have been converted to use Liquefied Natural Gas.

“We are at the forefront of innovation for the maritime industry, and we’re proud to be there,” she said.

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Welcome to the Northland

Visitors have cruised north to Alaska to sightsee for more than a century. The business was pioneered by Pacific Coast Steamship Co. of San Francisco in the 1880s. Pacific launched monthly voyages to Alaska and Alaska’s beauty has captivated tourists ever since.

Today Alaska is America’s premier cruise destination, and the state will greet an estimated 1.6 million cruise visitors this year.

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Source: Cruise Lines Agencies of Alaska
Ɨ2020 – No passengers in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
*2023 – Numbers estimated.