The City of Craig is asking residents how they would like to see tourism exist in the community. The industry is on the rise in the small Southeast town on Prince of Wales Island. And some of the town’s thousand residents say they don’t want tourism to take over and ruin the small town charm, or price people out of their homes.
For the next month, residents are asked to answer survey questions about what kinds of tourism they would like to see, when, where and how often. That includes when tourists should have access to spaces like Cannery Point Park and Graveyard Trail. It also asks residents how many tourists they’d like to see in Craig, recognizing the city doesn’t have control over cruise ship schedules or passenger numbers.
Jan Trojan helped develop the survey. She’s on the city council, but spoke to KRBD as a private citizen.
“What the survey does most is open the conversation,” Trojan said. “And to find out, do people really want to have 60 ships a year? If you don’t, at least we can talk about it and see what our options are.”
Craig City Clerk Becca Ververs said she doesn’t know what’s going to be done with the survey data yet, because the cruise ships are coming no matter what. The survey was an ask from the community.
The idea emerged during a town hall meeting last fall. Princes of Wales residents met in the Craig High School auditorium to discuss the island’s rising tourism industry, and the now-defunct tourism advisory committee.
After the meeting, around a dozen Prince of Wales residents started developing their own survey to send out to community members to see how they feel about tourism in Craig. They eventually partnered with the city and narrowed down the questions through a series of public meetings.
Cruise ship season is quickly approaching. Wendy Hamilton, manager of the Prince of Wales Chamber of Commerce, said the first cruise ship is expected to dock on the island’s only cruise ship dock on May 5. Hamilton said visits will stay pretty steady until the end of August. And the number of tourists on the island is rapidly increasing — six ships docked at Port Klawock in 2024, and this last summer there were 23 ships. Hamilton said they expect 52 ships this year.
The survey is posted on the City of Craig’s Facebook page and on the city website. Paper copies are expected to be mailed out to Craig residents early next week. The deadline is April 6.
