For decades, Alaska’s cruise industry promoted the state as the “Last Frontier” while Indigenous communities remained on the margins of the tourism economy. That is beginning to change as Alaska Native corporations increasingly own and operate parts of the tourism infrastructure, from cruise terminals and ground transportation to excursions and lodges.
The shift is visible in Juneau, where the Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Kootéeyaa Deiyí, or “Totem Pole Trail,” has brought Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultural representation to heavily visited parts of the city. Since 2023, carved poles have lined the route between the waterfront and downtown. Ricardo Worl of the Sealaska Heritage Institute describes the project as a way to reestablish Indigenous presence on ancestral lands and introduce cruise visitors to the region’s history.
Huna Totem Corporation, a Tlingit village corporation representing shareholders connected to Hoonah and Glacier Bay, has made tourism a central part of its economic development strategy. Its best-known project, Icy Strait Point in Hoonah, opened in 2004 as Alaska’s first private cruise destination. The site includes two cruise piers, excursion areas, walking trails, gondolas and a museum housed in a former salmon cannery.
According to Ruth Banaszak, Huna Totem’s director of marketing and communications, Icy Strait Point employs about 350 people during the season in a community of roughly 950 residents. The operation has also helped local businesses develop, including boat tours to Point Adolphus, where visitors can see orcas, humpback whales, sea lions and sea otters.
Huna Totem has expanded its involvement beyond Hoonah. In Whittier, it opened the Glacier Gateway cruise terminal in 2024. Together with Doyon, Limited, it has acquired Portage Glacier Cruises and Alaska Coach Tours. In Klawock, on Prince of Wales Island, Huna Totem partnered with Doyon and the local Alaska Native corporation Klawock Heenya to develop a cruise port based on a single-ship model and focused on Tlingit culture and community participation.
In Juneau, Huna Totem is developing Áak’w Landing, a cruise dock and waterfront project expected to enter its first full season in 2028. The development is intended to improve visitor movement through the city, including by eliminating the need for tender boats at the site. Two poles from the Kootéeyaa Deiyí project are also planned for the location.
Doyon, Limited, a corporation based in Fairbanks representing largely Dene shareholders, has pursued a similar strategy. More than 60% of Alaska’s visitors arrive by cruise, according to Jordan Sanford, president of Doyon Tourism, making the industry important to the corporation’s growth plans.
Doyon has operated Kantishna Roadhouse in Denali National Park for 30 years. The lodge is the park’s only Indigenous-owned accommodation. Visitors reach it by small plane while road access remains closed because of a landslide; the road is expected to reopen in 2027. The lodge offers backcountry activities, wildlife viewing and cultural presentations, including introductions to Dene beadwork and regalia.
Since 2004, Doyon has also operated bus tours, transit services and campgrounds in the park through a partnership with Aramark. Sanford says visitors are increasingly seeking more authentic experiences, giving Native-owned businesses an opportunity to employ shareholders while allowing them to share their own culture.
Doyon is also restoring the 1925 Chatanika Gold Camp near Fairbanks. The site is scheduled to open in 2027 as a northern lights experience center with cultural programming, addressing what Sanford describes as a lack of dedicated infrastructure for aurora viewing.
Together, these projects point toward a broader network of Indigenous-owned tourism businesses across Alaska. The goal described by the corporations is a Native-owned travel corridor in which visitors can move between Indigenous-owned ports, buses, excursions and lodges while more of the economic benefit remains in the communities whose ancestral lands they visit.
Sources: Condé Nast Traveler.