The Norwegian Bliss pulled into Ward Cove Thursday morning to kick off Ketchikan’s 2025 tourism season. The ship was carrying more than 4,600 passengers. Ketchikan Gateway Borough Mayor Rodney Dial and Ward Cove Group CEO John Binkley were waiting for them on the Ward Cove dock to cut the red ribbon. The first passengers to disembark this season were a couple from California.
By 10 a.m., downtown businesses were bustling. Tourists milled around the cruise ship berths taking pictures of the mountains and floatplanes coming in for landing.
The Ketchikan Visitors Bureau estimates the First City will see roughly 1.47 million visitors on more than 500 ships this season. That number is relatively consistent with last year’s numbers.
Ketchikan and the nation are in a different place than last year though. This tourism season kicks off amid global economic uncertainty related to the Trump Administration’s tariffs. The U.S. Forest Service’s Ketchikan-Misty Fiords Ranger District will also be approaching this busy season with less hands following the loss of nearly a dozen employees during the administration’s mass firing of the federal workforce.
This tourism season also kicks off while the island continues to address a rockslide blocking Tongass Avenue at Wolfe Point. The Alaska Department of Transportation made the decision this week to pave the gravel detour, citing weather conditions and the fast approaching tourism season.
The paving project is expected to continue through Saturday. It is unclear how the two-lane gravel detour is expected to impact tourism in the meantime. City of Ketchikan Tourism Manager Laurie Booyse couldn’t be reached for comment by press time.
A McKinley Research Group study published last year showed that the 1.5 million cruise passengers in 2023 cost the City of Ketchikan about $8 million but they “doubled that in revenue.”
The Norwegian Bliss stopped in Ketchikan on its round-trip back to Seattle. The huge ship docked in Juneau on Monday. According to the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska, there are just over 20 days this season where Ketchikan will see more than 15,000 passengers in one day. The busiest day of the season is currently scheduled for June 19 with seven ships and over 19,000 passengers.
