2022 Year In Review

The post-pandemic recovery in the regional visitor industry that was witnessed in 2021 carried over into 2022, with a continued surge of independent travelers along with the return of the Cross Gulf of Alaska cruise land tour passengers, international visitors and highway travelers.

Explore Fairbanks resumed its pre-COVID marketing tactics and messaging to include attending in-person trade shows and consumer shows both domestically and internationally, increases in familiarization tours for media as well as travel trade, and an increase in Explore Fairbanks generated meetings and conventions held here in Fairbanks.

While return to visitation was solid, the workforce woes of 2021 continued in 2022, an issue affecting every industry nationwide. Explore Fairbanks was not immune with the organization having difficulties hiring vacant positions; closing out 2022 with 15 fulland part-time employees, down from the 22 employees we had in April of 2019.

Record Bed Tax Collections for Fairbanks North Star Borough, City of Fairbanks & North Pole

The greatest sign of positive recovery in the regional visitor industry could be found in the record high bed tax collections. All three government entities—Fairbanks North Star Borough, City of Fairbanks and City of North Pole—reported record collections every month, with more than $7.2M in total collections for the year, far surpassing the previous record of $5.8M in 2019. While there was a 5% increase in occupancy rates, higher average daily rates (ADR) were the primary contributing factor, with hotels reporting a 22% increase over 2021 and short-term rentals with a 13% increase.