By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
In the wake of Canada’s decision to extend the cruise ship ban for another year, the Sitka Chamber of Commerce is devising ways to help keep local businesses open.
To that end, the Chamber has designated March 1-7 as Restaurant Week in Sitka. During the week, the Chamber will invite local eating establishments to offer discounts and specials, and encourage residents to take advantage.
“Basically, the Sitka Chamber has geared programming around supporting local businesses with our shop-local campaign,” said Rachel Roy, executive director of the Chamber and its destination marketing organization, Visit Sitka. “The main idea of Restaurant Week is to support locals eating out and supporting restaurants through the difficult winter months.”
Sign-ups will start next week, and the program is open only to the more than 20 restaurants and businesses that are Chamber members, Roy said. The participating restaurants will be encouraged to offer special deals and discounts during the week of March 1-7.
In addition to the specials for diners, there will be prizes for those who eat at any participating restaurants twice during the week. Entries will be submitted to the Chamber with a photo of the food, pickup or delivery order, or dining experience. Any member of the public can enter the contest, and don’t need to be Chamber members.
“It’ll be a fun way for us all to connect and support businesses serving all of us this delicious food,” Roy said.
Other Chamber Promotions
Restaurant Week will support businesses that will be hurt by the second year without cruise ship visits, but another part of that effort, Roy said, is the Chamber’s additional marketing effort to attract more visitors arriving by air, yachts and small cruise ships, and from other places in Alaska.
“We’ve been working toward ensuring we’re reaching out to those travelers,” Roy said.
Visit Sitka is funded mostly by the city’s bed tax receipts. Travel restrictions in 2020 caused a major decline in those taxes, but Roy said the organization is hoping to see the numbers bounce back this season as travel opens up.
Skipping ahead a year, she said prospects for the post-pandemic year of 2022 are looking bright, with some 400,000 cruise visitors expected, along with healthy numbers of independent travelers.
Southeast Conference
Roy was among Sitkans who took part in the virtual Southeast Conference “Midsession Summit 2021” this past week. The theme was “Southeast Alaska: Getting through to ’22.”
Southeast Conference is comprised of businesses and governments who plan and coordinate on regional issues.
The three-day conference included reports by members of the congressional delegation, who are lobbying in favor of a waiver of the U.S. Jones Act, which has enabled Canada to block big ship cruises to Alaska.
Roy said U.S. Rep. Don Young conceded in his talk that this year’s season may be lost but expressed hope for finding a way forward since other modes of transportation are viable options during the pandemic.
On the final day of the conference, the group reviewed strategic plans for developing various industries, and near- and long-term outlooks.
“There is information that can help as Sitka looks at strategies (for) our economic development. The work Southeast Conference is doing can be an asset for our community planning,” Roy said, mentioning the Sitka Planning Commission’s current project updating the Sitka Comprehensive Plan.
Roy said the expansion of Sitka medical facilities by SEARHC came up during the conference as a positive development in the Southeast economy, both for the construction jobs created and the additional health care offerings and jobs that will result.
Cruise Officials to Speak
Roy said speakers at the next Chamber meeting, noon Feb. 17, are representatives from Cruise Lines International Association - Alaska, and Chris McGraw of Sitka, manager of Halibut Point Marine. McGraw plans to update the Chamber on its expansion and operations plan to accommodate the predicted increase in cruise tourism to Sitka.
