Alaska Marine Highway System management has decided to cut back on advertising that for years promoted the state ferries as a scenic, leisurely way for summer travelers to tour Southeast.
Though painful to admit, it’s the right decision. Nothing upsets customers more than to bite on advertising, book a ticket, plan a trip and then find themselves at the dock all dressed up with no place to go.
“Because of our reliability with the fleet, we have consciously pulled back our advertising in the Lower 48 because we just disappoint people right now,” Craig Tornga, marine director for the state ferries, said at an online open house last week.
“We’ve pulled back (on advertising) until we get the fleet upgraded, and we can be reliable and something that everybody can count on for making those plans.”
Sadly, that could take years.
The fleet is decimated by age and rusted steel, and the operational status of seaworthy vessels is restricted by crew shortages. Boats tied to the pier, waiting for repairs or propped up in drydock are not available when a ferry breaks down. Without any spares to spare, a mechanical problem can mean a delayed or canceled sailing, stranded travelers and ruined travel plans — and a wave of bad publicity.
Tornga is right: Don’t sell what you can’t deliver.
This isn’t a new problem; it’s been rough seas for years.
There is one sailing a week from Puget Sound through Southeast Alaska; in the past, there had been two sailings on the popular route during the heavy tourism summer season.
Passenger numbers across the entire system in 2023 — at 181,000 passengers — were just over half of the 340,000 from a decade earlier. Those 160,000 lost passengers didn’t disappear, they just made other plans, and that is a tremendous hit to the Alaska economy. Whether they were locals or visitors — it hurts all the same.
The numbers are even worse for Wrangell. From more than 6,800 passengers who got off a ferry in town a decade ago, last year’s count totaled just over 1,200 visitors, according to a borough report.
Maybe after the state hires enough crew to fully staff the ferries, unlike this summer when the Kennicott is tied up for lack of adequate staffing; maybe after the state completes expensive upgrades to the Kennicott and repairs and/or replacement of the Columbia and Matanuska; maybe then the Alaska Marine Highway System can go back to advertising for Lower 48 travelers.
Admittedly, a cutback in advertising sounds like a self-inflicted wound, further deepening the cut in passenger loads, putting more strain on the budget and jeopardizing what little service remains.
But Tornga is right: False advertising does not win customers. All the more reason to fix the problems before the traveling public thinks of Alaska ferries as something old people remember but no one uses anymore.
-- Wrangell Sentinel
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