Tourism
Future Development
Opportunities for Growth
Criteria
for Success
Strategies
Partnerships
Visitor Industry Opportunities
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
Tourism
will be a growth industry in the Copper River Basin and Ahtna chooses
to manage the impacts of this change on Ahtna shareholders and lands
through pro-active business involvement and leadership.
Ahtna's involvement in tourism is intended to benefit Ahtna shareholders
in the long term and enhance Ahtna’s land stewardship. The biggest
asset that Ahtna has is its ownership of over 600,000 acres in the Wrangell
St. Elias National Park as well as its holdings in the Denali National
Park and Preserve.
Public
access is extremely limited and the opportunities for business development
are scarce on currently available public land. That means that Ahtna
is in the position to provide access and land within the Park for tourism
based business.
back
to top
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR GROWTH
Opportunities
for expanding tourism are associated with the natural environment, cultural
resources and the vacation experiences that access to those resources
offer. Increasing ecotourism will be less costly than expanding other
arms of the visitor industry.
Existing
opportunities for expansion of the summer season into the spring and
fall and in the development of new wintertime activities are increasing.
A new visitor destination within the Ahtna region is evident if one
looks at the obvious merits of the Copper River Basin:
•
Access from scheduled air service
• Proximity to overnight accommodations
• Significant attributes
• Nearby recreation opportunities
• Room for expansion
• A setting of grandeur.
The
Copper River Basin and more particularly the Wrangell-St. Elias National
Park, holds great allure for the visitor in terms of being the largest
national park in the country and for the splendor of the Wrangell Mountains.
The
visitor industry in Alaska ranks third in terms of total payroll after
seafood and oil production. The visitor industry is significant to the
State and local economy. Gross revenues to the Alaska general fund generated
by the industry averages close to $35 million annually.
back
to top
CRITERIA
FOR SUCCESS
In
Ahtna's plan to expand its tourism related opportunities, certain factors
are recognized as critical to success:
•
Vacation experiences must meet the expectations of the market
• Tourism must be based on hospitality
• Tourism must benefit the economy and complement other industries
• Provide for both pre-planned and independent travel
• Industry must work with native groups to enhance Alaska’s
cultural resources
• Alaska must be promoted to a variety of visitor markets
• Introduce new destinations similar to Denali and Glacier Bay
• Provide access to private and public lands
Upon
review of these criteria, Ahtna stands in good stead to have success
in the visitor industry by fact of its land position alone. With over
600,000 acres of land within the Park, Ahtna can provide visitor destinations
and activities that no other entity can. The draw of the Park coupled
with Ahtna’ land holdings form a sound basis for success.
back
to top
AHTNA
STRATEGIES
Ahtna
will establish and maintain a pre-eminent position in regional tourism
and targeted tourism businesses by demand anticipation and early commitment
and differentiate itself by emphasis on proving the highest quality
service and facilities.
• Ahtna will target specific types of tourism businesses based
on their strategic relevance and linkage, and the identification of
a unique competitive business advantage.
• The Ahtna long term tourism plan will provide a balanced geographical
distribution of tourism activities to assure that all of the Ahtna villages
have local industry opportunities.
• Ahtna will maximize short-term tourism related business development
opportunities around the National Park Service Wrangell-St. Elias visitor
center and Ahtna’s special status under ANILCA.
• Ahtna will promote its preferred operator status as a "Most
Directly Affected Native Corporation" (MDANC) with the Denali
National Park and Preserve.
• Ahtna, Inc. will consider utilitization of certain property
to leverage participation in any proposed resort lodge or hotel in the
region by actively presenting a diversity of potential hotel/lodge sites,
and by openly seeking involvement in all hotel/lodges built in the region.
• Ahtna will enhance the land’s tourism value through the
control of physical access (roads, bridges, aerial trams, etc.)
back
to top
PARTNERSHIPS
•
Ahtna may seek to partner with other native corporations based on compatible
interests and identified synergies in a specific project.
• Ahtna will only consider partnership with those entities that
have demonstrated superior operational abilities and high standards
of quality.
• Ahtna will build the tourism business portfolio in a series
of project decisions and incremental investment decisions.
• Ahtna will retain ownership of the stories, artifacts, and other
cultural items.
• Ahtna will avoid any business involvement that includes the
sale of alcoholic beverages other than (1) licensed alcohol sale operations
conducted solely as part of a hotel’s or lodge’s food and
beverage service: or (2) the sale of a locally produced specialty beer
or wine targeted at markets outside the region.
• Ahtna will actively support Federal and State land use planning
and management policies and activities that support subsistence and
wilderness values, integrate Ahtna land use priorities, and preserve
the quality of visitor experiences even if it means limiting visitation
numbers.
• Ahtna will include tourism businesses as potential major customers
in its ongoing analysis of the private sector opportunities for providing
basic infrastructure and public services.
back
to top
AHTNA VISITOR INDUSTRY OPPORTUNITIES
In
developing Ahtna’s Tourism Strategy, the following business ventures
are being explored within the tourism industry:
•
Lodging
• Food and Beverage
• Campground/RV Park
• Transportation
• Flight Seeing
• Guiding
• Maintenance
• Construction
• Arts and Crafts
• Ski Lift
• Ferry and Tram
In
consideration of these businesses the option of constructing a road
through Ahtna lands, particularly in the Copper River Basin is most
inviting. It opens Ahtna land for development merely by providing access
to heretofore-inaccessible portions of the Park.
back
to top
