By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski told Alaska’s main travel industry group that she can easily relate recent history to the film “Back to the Future.”
She was alluding to the travel convention’s theme, “Back to the Future of Tourism.”
“These past two years – it’s just this block of time that was just kind of a mash,” Murkowski said in her address to travel convention delegates at the Hames Center Tuesday. “Dates were not material. ... We certainly lost time. And now we’re at this new normal, whatever this new normal means,” Murkowski said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, left, is given a tour of Katlian Street clan houses by Jerrick Hope-Lang, second from left, Tuesday. Murkowski spoke with constituents on visit to Sitka that included speaking at the Alaska Tourism Industry Association convention. Also while in town she received the William Paul Sr. Award for her work on behalf of Shee Atika Corporation and shareholders from representatives of Sitka Tribe of Alaska. Hope-Lang, of the Point House clan, is working on a project to rebuild his clan’s house that was razed in 1997. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
Murkowski, who is running for a fourth term in the Senate in the Nov. 8 election, was in Sitka for a few days as a guest speaker at the Alaska Travel Industry Association and to meet with constituents.
While in town, Murkowski met with representatives of Sitka Tribe of Alaska and accepted the William Paul Sr. Award for her work on behalf of Shee Atiká Inc. and shareholders.
The award cited Muskowski’s work making Section 646 of the tax code permanent as it relates to taxing Native corporations, assisting with the federal repurchase of the Cube Cove land logged by Shee Atiká, “protecting our 8(a) rights, and advocating for the betterment of Alaska Natives and Alaska Native subsistence rights.”
The award was presented Tuesday by the board treasurer, Alysha Guthrie. Earlier, she walked Katlian Street with Jerrick Hope-Lang, of the Point House, who is trying to build a new clan house in the 200 block of Katlian Street to replace one house that was razed in 1997. They were accompanied by Crystal Duncan, a friend and supporter, Native elder Liz Howard, and representatives of University of Alaska Southeast and the Baranof Island Housing Authority.
Other topics she discussed with local and tribal leaders related to workforce development, homelessness and affordable housing, among other issues, her staff said.
Murkowski said she also looked at designs and visited the worksite for the new SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center on Japonski Island. Murkowski noted that she had played a part getting the land conveyed to SEARHC.
In her address to the travel convention, Murkowski said the industry seems to have turned a corner. The theme “Back to the Future of Tourism” was meant to capture the return of this economic sector after the pandemic.
“People are ready to get out and about, they want to get out, they want to have adventures,” Murkowski said. After staying home during the pandemic, she said, “They want to be there now, and Alaska is part of that destination. How we move to receive them is so important.”
She said she foresees the Alaska’s tourism season stretching beyond summer due to the cancellation of trips during the pandemic and the resulting backlog of travel plans. In line with that, she said she sees ways that the delegation can help the industry with federal funds available through the infrastructure bill.
“About $2.4 billion that has been announced or awarded to recipients for roads and bridges and airports and ports and wastewater systems and broadband and energy projects,” she said. “There are some people who suggest this is too much money. It is a lot of money, and you know what? It’s an investment in our future: we will not have a future without broadband, we will not have a future without ports and harbors, water and wastewater. We will not have a future if that is competitive if we are in the mix with the rest of the country.”
She said she’s also pleased to see infrastructure bill funds put toward building and fixing Forest Service cabins, which she sees as important to safety for those recreating and hunting in the backcountry.
Murkowski’s office said her stop here was not a campaign trip, but was in her role as a senator.
The ATIA’s annual convention takes place after the busy summer season, and Murkowski said she knows this season was “a stretch to everyone in the industry” due to workforce shortages, which raises the question: “How are we going to address these issues of work force?”
It’s not just a single problem, she said, but a problem of providing childcare, housing and removing barriers for people wanting to come to the U.S. to work.
In her talk with reporters from KCAW and the Sentinel after her speech she commented further on the labor shortage, and said she and others have been working to “have immigration policies that make sense” as they relate to seasonal workers.
“We’ve been working with Homeland Security and the Department of Labor to try to get fix for these seafood processors,” she said. She said she also pushed to raise the cap on visas for seasonal workers, a change that was announced by the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday.
In her closing remarks to the convention, Murkowski said the visitor industry is still “climbing out of that hole,” from the pandemic. She said it was frustrating to see how vulnerable the cruise industry was during the pandemic, when CDC regulations for cruise ships, and Canada’s closure of ports shut down the Alaska cruise industry for 2020 and half of 2021.
“No other industry was singled out,” she said. “There’s a unique challenge here: because no foreign country should have the ability to shut down an important sector of our economy because of a U.S. law. ... We’re in a better place now. Things are much better, but we’re still in a situation where Canada’s got this kill switch for cruises. We’ve got to have a permanent solution for the (Passenger Vessel Safety Act) in Alaska.”
She told the group that the work they do is important in showing Alaska at its best.
“You have given people that opportunity of a lifetime, a trip that was so important and so special ... it’s because of what you do that makes it so special,” she said.
In her talk with reporters Murkowski commented on the purchase of Shee Atika’s Cube Cove land selection by the federal government. She said that as a member of the Alaska congressional delegation it’s her responsibility to work with constituents to achieve their initiatives.
“Cube Cove was a bit of a reversal of what we typically try to do, which is take lands out of federal estate and put it into private hands, but I think there was a recognition with the timber conveyances that were made at the time that this was a matter that needed to be resolved,” she said.
The 22,000-acre tract is being returned to Wilderness as part of the Admiralty Island National Monument.
