Watt: 6-percent increase in Juneau visitors expected in 2020

• News Home
• More from News of the North

Thursday, September 19th, 2019 5:07pm

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Messenger
• Share on Messenger
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Whatsapp

CBJ Manager Rorie Watt.

Sitka, Alaska (KINY) - City and Borough of Juneau Manager Rorie Watt is attending the annual meeting of the Southeast Conference in Sitka where he is learning about a lot of cruise industry news.

One big piece of news is that there will be a six-percent increase in the number of passengers next year.

"The outlook for growth continues to be strong and I think the questions among the communities continues to be what can we handle, what can we do well and what's good for the community," Watt said. "It's nothing we didn't expect and we know the numbers were projected to be up, so that more or less what we expected."

A massive increase will be seen in Hoonah, Watt added.

"In Hoonah, there will certainly be a lot of increased activity," Watt said. "I think they're going to pull the ship in pretty soon for a photo op and in terms of their numbers, I think next year I think they're going to be 400,000 visitors, which is a lot of people."

Watt told News of the North that Norwegian Cruise Lines official Howard Sherman will be in Juneau on Wednesday, Sept. 25. The company submitted the winning $20 million bid for the subport lot in downtown Juneau.

The Southeast Conference meeting continues through Friday.

More from News of the North

• Five year old child dies in Palmer crash

  Palmer, Alaska (KINY) - Alaska State Troopers said alcohol and not wearing seatbelts contributed to the death of a child in a motor vehicle crash on Saturday.

• Alaska absentee ballots sent with incorrect candidate name

  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Officials said the Alaska Division of Elections listed the wrong Democratic candidate on 135 absentee ballots emailed to Alaska residents who are overseas.

• Alaska allows online sales of raffle tickets due to virus

  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska plans to allow the online sale of raffle tickets for the first time to help nonprofit organizations faced with limited fundraising opportunities because of coronavirus restrictions.

• Trump interviews Barrett while weighing a high court nominee

  Washington, DC (AP) - President Donald Trump met with Judge Amy Coney Barrett at the White House as the conservative jurist emerged as a favorite to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

• CBJ approves emergency ordinances

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - CARES dollars will be spent to sample wastewater, help the school district, provide child care and assist local businesses.

• CBJ spends CARES funding

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Measures to spend over $12 million in federal funding for various costs incurred during the pandemic were introduced by the assembly Monday.

• Financial support for new Glory Hall

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - The assembly took a huge step toward providing a large part of the cost to build a new Glory Hall on Monday.

• Ketchikan Assembly passes economic disaster resolution

  Ketchikan, Alaska (KINY) - The Ketchikan Gateway Borough passed an economic disaster resolution regarding the fishing industry on Monday.

• Ketchikan Gateway Borough approves pro-police resolution

  Ketchikan, Alaska (KINY) - The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly took up a resolution on Monday night dealing with allegations of discrimination against those working in law enforcement.

• Alaska Symphony of Seafood postponed over COVID-19

  Wrangell, Alaska (KINY) - The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, organizer of the Alaska Symphony of Seafood since 1994, is announcing the postponement of the Symphony event planned for November 2020 due to the ongoing health and safety issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Sitka Assembly, school board to hold joint meeting

  Sitka, Alaska (KINY) - The City and Borough of Sitka will hold a special joint work session with the Sitka School Board on Thursday night.

• Alaska Board of Fisheries to hold work session in October

  Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - The Alaska Board of Fisheries will meet Oct. 15-16, beginning at 8:30 a.m., through the Internet-based video communication company Zoom to hold its work session.