Future Development
Opportunities for Growth
Criteria for Success
Strategies
Partnerships
Visitor Industry Opportunities
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 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
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's land holdings form a sound basis for success.
Back to top
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
- 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
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
