Young has introduced the Alaska Tourism Recovery Act that would temporarily allow cruise ships to travel directly between Seattle and Alaska. Regulations require the ships to make a stop in a foreign country, typically Vancouver or Victoria. In a statement, Young said the bill would provide relief for large cruise vessels, the lifeblood of Alaska’s summer tourism economy. He noted the relief would be temporary, applying only while Canadian ports are closed to the ships. “This month, Canada’s surprise decision to close their ports shocked Alaska’s communities, and has caused significant uncertainty for our small business owners and the broader tourism economy,” he said. “But if cruises can safely proceed, and I believe they can, then we ought to be doing everything possible to alleviate the stress and anxiety of families whose livelihoods depend on tourists coming to Alaska to experience our great state. The COVID-19 pandemic devastated Alaska’s 2020 cruise season;
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The Norwegian Joy alongside the Canada Place terminal in Vancouver. Members of Congress are proposing that Canada allow ships to make port calls without disembarking as a way around the country s big-ship cruise ban. Photo Credit: Tom Stieghorst
The top-ranking members of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure are asking Canada to find a way to allow cruise ships to call at Canadian ports, perhaps by permitting stops without disembarking passengers, to enable an Alaska cruise season this year.
In a letter to Kirsten Hillman, the Canadian ambassador to the U.S., Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said that Canada s decision to ban cruising through 2022, effectively killing the big-shop Alaska season, puts the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Americans and Canadians at risk from more job losses and further economic devastation.
Both lines said they were engaged with U.S. and Canadian officials to try to preserve a portion of their Alaska and Canada & New England seasons, including sailings from Seattle.