TOURISM

Ballet in the Sky

Aurora borealis attracts international tourists

By Isaac Stone Simonelli

The dazzling dance of the aurora borealis draws thousands of tourists from out of state to Fairbanks and the Far North every year. While the pandemic has stifled the strategic development of international markets for the winter season in Alaska, there has been a surge in tourists from the Lower 48 seeking the exotic winter phenomenon while remaining in the United States.

“By far and away our greatest selling point that has enabled us to be so successful in our winter tourism has been the northern lights,” says Scott McCrea, the president and CEO of Explore Fairbanks.

Fairbanks has worked strategically to diversify its tourism market beyond the typical summer months that define a lot of Alaska visitor industries, explains McCrea. The first major international tourism market Fairbanks tapped for the winter season was Japan more than fifteen years ago when Japan Airlines started direct chartered flights to the region. Explore Fairbanks worked closely with the Fairbanks International Airport and tour operators in Japan to secure the charters, which reached a peak of eighteen flights during the 2013/2014 winter season.

“That was really kind of our first big winter market, especially as it pertains to international visitation,” McCrea says. Prior to the pandemic, the Interior was also seeing growth in the mainland China market.

“The Chinese market has an emerging middle class with increasing disposable income and a desire to come experience the aurora in Alaska,” says Sarah Leonard, the president and CEO of the Alaska Travel Industry Association.

“Germany is another key market for Alaska both in summer and winter,” she adds. “Through Travel Alaska’s cooperative marketing program, individual business can purchase ad space in digital and print media, which we are able to get into these international markets.”

McCrea points out that when working with foreign markets it's helpful to have personnel who speak the language and understand the culture. Explore

Fairbanks produces marketing materials in Mandarin and Japanese. Additionally, it works with its tourism partners to do cultural training.

“Understanding cultural differences and being aware of how to make international guests comfortable is important,” Leonard says. “Tourism operators can focus on translations, transportation, having some familiar food on hand, as well as engage with local tourism offices like Explore Fairbanks and Visit Anchorage to use the tools they have on hand for business members.”

One of the challenges Interior Alaska faces in marketing itself as a premier northern lights destination is competition from Northern European regions. There’s a huge disparity in budget and marketing power as Fairbanks competes with other markets, such as Iceland, which is an entire country that pushes its northern lights tourism, McCrea explains.

However, travel restrictions since the onset of the pandemic have changed the demographics for tourists visiting Alaska. Diminished international travel has boosted Alaska tourism in some ways, as domestic travelers come from the Lower 48. This is a new trend that McCrea says he expects to continue after international travel returns to normal.

“We don't have the visitors from Japan coming. We don't have the visitors from China coming. But we're seeing Asian Americans, especially from the West Coast, who are coming here. We have tour companies that cater to that market,” McCrea says. “This year turned out much better than we anticipated with that domestic leisure market, most definitely in comparison to 2020 and, in some instances, even better than 2019.”

Away from Home, at Home

Changes in demand due to the pandemic have been a boon to the more boutique aurora tourism outfits, such as Iniakuk Lake Wilderness Lodge and Aurora Bear Photography.

“It's actually stimulated business because we just happen to offer exclusive tours,” says John Gaedeke, the owner and operator of the Iniakuk Lake Wilderness Lodge. The lodge, located 200 miles north of Fairbanks and 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle, started as a hunting lodge that Gaedeke’s parents began building during their honeymoon in 1974.

“We haven't stopped working on the lodge for the past forty-five years, adding amenities and options for travelers and then really [promoting] wild, wild Alaska,” Gaedeke explains, noting that he’s transitioned the lodge to ecotourism while offering what he calls concierge guiding.

Gaedeke’s clientele are typically world travelers who are willing to pay extra for a premium, all-inclusive experience.

“That world has gotten smaller with COVID and restrictions and just common sense,” Gaedeke says, “so many people from the Lower 48 come up here, and it's really a foreign vacation to them.”

Even before the pandemic, Gaedeke’s primary market was the United States, though he saw clients from all over the world, including Papua New Guinea and Russia, land in Fairbanks on an international flight and then board a contracted ski-plane to make the hop out to his remote lodge.

Gaedeke says he was caught off guard by how many Scandinavians booked stays at the lodge, given that their home countries also offer aurora viewing opportunities.

“They just say that there's no kind of space like Alaska,” Gaedeke says. “In Norway, Sweden, and Finland, you're always seeing houses. You're always on a road somewhere. If you take out a dog team or you cross country ski, you're hitting a trail within fifteen to twenty minutes. I can offer them a week on a dog team without crossing a road or seeing anyone.”

Access to the internet has allowed Iniakuk Lake Wilderness Lodge to gain traction in international markets. It allows tour operators to not worry about juggling time zones to set up phone calls since such communications can be handled just as easily through email.

“And then the same with the website,” Gaedeke says. “It just sits there and it's live and so that has made a huge difference for the business. A small operation like ours can really exist and not necessarily compete with the huge tourism operation but offer… another thing on the menu for travelers.”

He says that operations catering to larger groups of thirty to sixty people seem to have more of an appeal in the Asian markets, while his business does better internationally with the European market.

Frank Stelges moved from Germany to Alaska after seeing visitors stand in the cold desperately trying to photograph the northern lights.

Aurora Bear Photography More Than Aurora

The winter tourism markets in the Interior are built around the fact that Fairbanks has some of the best northern lights viewing in the world. “But you’ve got to have more than that,” McCrea says. “That led to development of a lot of winter products and tours.”

These include tours that offer dog mushing, ice fishing, and snow machining, as well as cultural opportunities, such as museums.

“It's kind of built around the northern lights, but we have all these supporting tours, activities, and events that can make the visitors' time in Interior Alaska as memorable as possible,” McCrea says.

The aurora viewing season is roughly defined as August 21 to April 21—a month before the autumn equinox until a month after the spring equinox.

Most nights during the season, Frank Stelges, the owner and operator of Aurora Bear, brings guests to his home, where they learn how to photograph the aurora. The 144-acre property sits

Aurora Bear Photography

Daytime activities attract Scandinavian tourists, even though they have their own northern lights. In Alaska they find unmatched remoteness. “I can offer them a week on a dog team without crossing a road or seeing anyone,” says lodge owner John Gaedeke.

Iniakuk Lake Wilderness Lodge

on a high, north-facing ridge about 25 miles north of Fairbanks.

“We do the tours here in our private home,” says Stelges, who runs the business with his wife, Miriam. “So you sit with us and the four dogs we have on our sofa with a glass of wine in front of the fireplace and a huge panorama window, and then we talk about Alaska and, of course, photography.”

Stelges, who moved from Germany to Alaska five years ago on an investors visa, was inspired to open the photography school after witnessing so many people standing around in the cold desperately trying to capture the magic of the northern lights on the two to three nights they were in town.

Before the pandemic, Stelges was used to hosting guests from New Zealand, India, Taiwan, China, and South America. “Now, with COVID, our main client is definitely guests from the Lower 48,” Stelges says.

Aurora Bear did lose an entire month of bookings in March 2020 due to the pandemic, but since then, the small group nature—four to six clients—and responsible approach to COVID-safety protocols have allowed the business to thrive. “Last winter was actually really good, and also this winter,” Stelges says. The tour itself starts with a fireside presentation about the science behind the northern lights to help people understand what they’re seeing dancing above them, Stelges explains. Then the conversation moves to photography, which has varying

content based on the experience level of the photographers. Finally, everyone heads out into the cold to get handson tips as they capture the aurora.

Of course, the aurora—a natural phenomenon—doesn’t always show up. In those cases, Stelges teaches people to shoot light painting, fireworks, or burning steel wool so that they can put their newly gained skills into practice for when the aurora does appear.

“As good of a destination as it is to see the northern lights, it is Mother Nature controlled—so that means there's no guarantee,” McCrea says. This makes night dog mushing and ice fishing trips even more attractive because, if the aurora doesn’t appear, there is still the opportunity to enjoy wild Alaska.

Explore Fairbanks does work hard to ensure guests have the best chances of seeing the northern lights. One of the most important recommendations is to stay at least three nights. “The science shows that that will increase the chance of seeing the northern lights by about 90 percent,” McCrea explains.

Additionally, visitors need to be prepared to stay up late, as much of the best viewing occurs deep into the night, far away from city lights. Fairbanks offers a good jump-off point for viewings, whether that’s a 30-minute drive out of town or a plane ride to a remote lodge.

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Global Exposure

“It's becoming more and more of a bucket list thing that people want to experience,” McCrea says. “It's just that it's such a natural phenomenon that few places can offer.”

Stelges thinks that the growth of social media has played a role in popularizing the northern lights. He says that he has a surprisingly large number of Brazilians following his Instagram.

“Fairbanks is, of course, a great location with affordable hotels and a nice airport,” Stelges says.

Winter tourism generates 45 percent of direct visitor expenditures in Fairbanks, disproportionately higher than visitors spend during the summer, according to Explore Fairbanks.

The intentional, strategic diversification of tourism in the Interior from primarily a summer market to a year-round market required significant investments of resources in research, marketing, and infrastructure development over a long period of time.

However, Gaedeke says that Alaska, as an entire state, is still not doing enough to push winter tourism.

“What we have here is an amazing thing,” Gaedeke says. “If any other state had this, they would be working a bit more to promote it.”

He said he’d like to see a more holistic approach to promoting the aurora, including pushes to limit light pollution that can hamper visitors’ experience of the light show.

While the aurora is the flashiest attraction for domestic and international tourists, Gaedeke explains that the remote, rugged nature of the state is what sets it apart as a destination. Value-added experiences during the day, from dog sledding to snow machining, can provide roundthe-clock entertainment and once-ina-life-time experiences for visitors.

“It seems strange to me that people come up and sleep all day just to get up at night and watch the aurora,” Gaedeke says. “I just tell people don't sleep—enjoy your day and your night.”