Tour vendors wait for cruise passengers to come check out the various tours available in Ketchikan. (KRBD file photo by Leila Kheiry)
The Port of Ketchikan is looking at a revamped dock-vendor program.
According to a memo from Port and Harbors Director Steve Corporon, dock-vendor contracts expired this year and bids for new proposals should go out soon, including any possible changes.
His proposed adjustments to the program include new, larger booths for vendors to use. Corporon suggests 8×8 wooden booths instead of the current 5×6 aluminum booths. That would cost $42,000.
Corporon also proposes moving a couple booths. He writes that the two next to the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau building on Berth 2 should relocate – one to Berth 1 and the other to Berth 3. Corporon writes that all the dock vendors lease space inside the KVB building to sell tours, so the booths are redundant and cause extra congestion in that busy area.
Another proposal is prohibiting vendors from soliciting sales outside of the booths. Per the agreement that just expired, they had been permitted to solicit sales within 6 feet of a booth. But, Corporon writes, new contracts should require them to comply with the city’s anti-hawking rules, adopted last year.
Other proposed changes include matching “tour sales” signs on all the booths; no freestanding or sandwich boards allowed; and not allowing tour vendors to take visitors to Mountain Point unless they are transferring them to a charter vessel.
Corporon writes that the Port and Harbors Advisory Board went along with most of the proposals. But, they voted to recommend allowing vendors to solicit sales outside of booths, and to allow sandwich boards. The board also suggested delaying a decision on new booths until new contracts are awarded, so that the vendors can provide input.
The Ketchikan City Council will consider these suggestions Thursday during its regular meeting, set for 7 p.m. in City Council chambers.
