Doesn't surprise me. It's a long way for most of us and gas & diesel aren't cheap, especially in Canada. We went in 1994, 2000, and 2004. My wife says three times is enough and you know that saying "if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."
RRUGG
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Interesting article, especially since I have known Scott since he was a grade school student in Tanana. Small world. The loss of the RV traveler is very hard on the small tourist type businesses. People that take the cruise/bus tours don't contribute very many dollars to the Alaska economy. The money that they pay to the cruise tour company stays, for the most part, wherever the tour company headquarters, be it Seattle or Vancouver or elsewhere. The ships are fueled, stocked, employees hired, etc. in the Seattle area generally. Most of the tour employees are hired out of state and they return there after the summer tourist season taking their money with them. The large tour companies for the most part hold their clients captive and only take themon company owned buses, to company owned hotels, restaurants, gift shops, shows, etc. leaving the small private owned businesses out of the loop. I have friends in the tourist business in Tok that have been complaining about the out of state owned tour companies for years.
Alaska's economy has always been on a boom or bust cycle since the early day gold rushes. Most of the campgrounds I saw that had closed were being changed into a different business model, such as the Anchorage RV Park, be turned into high priced housing. The Norlite CG mentioned, IMHO, was one that didn't stay up with the changes in campgrounds that todays travelers demand, i.e. bigger spaces, WiFi, cable, etc. I am sure it wasn't worth it to put the kind of money into their park to be competitive with places like the Rivers Edge RV park. Tough to try and run a business where the season is so short. Hopefully once folks get more used to the idea of higher fuel prices and more efficient RVs become more widely used the travel will pick back up.
Alaska, as a state IMHO, needs to get a realistic plan going to cater to the tourist business as does Florida and other states that depend on the out of state dollars. My wife and I couldn't believe this past summer how the state of Alaska had allowed many of the state parks to get so run down or closed them to public use. Getting resources out of the Alaska legislature to encourage tourism has never been easy IMO. They talk it but don't walk it.
joe b.
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I would dearly love to help them out, but can't get DH interested in going! If we sell our house in a few years it would be a good opportunity to take off for the summer. And since he wants to sell the house, I'll leverage that motive for all it's worth!
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Yes, the cost of fuel. We looked at the cost of driving and fuel was an important factor, 10 mpg --- miles traveled to and from = most of $$ spent on trip. Can defiantly be the deciding factor if someone goes.
Obviously this isn't surprising based on the cost of just getting here from the lower 48. However, one of the fastest growing business in Anchorage is an RV rental place called Great Alaskan Holidays. I think they charge about 150 per day to rent. The must have a few hundred RV's and they have recently expanded to a new location. The number of people who live in Alaska and own RVs is also amazing. I think we have more per capita than any other state in the country.
Of course many locals use state parks and off road sites to boondock, so that doesn't help the business's.
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joe b. wrote: My wife and I couldn't believe this past summer how the state of Alaska had allowed many of the state parks to get so run down or closed them to public use. Getting resources out of the Alaska legislature to encourage tourism has never been easy IMO. They talk it but don't walk it.
Hey Joe, remember last year when I made the comment about ½ of the State Parks being closed, to public use, for the season, and was called a liar by several people on the forum? I'm glad that you went and saw for yourself, so that the naysayers can now have two of us to call a liar. Juneau is more interested in buying a jet plane for transportation, than keeping up their state parks.
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Screw the cost of fuel, it the time it takes to get there and back. I would love to go but can't shut my business down for three months. If the opportunity ever arrises, I am there no, matter the cost of fuel.
We got back mid September from 4 months up there. If we don't make it back in 07 it'll definitely be in 08. I grouse a lot about fuel prices, but that won't stop me.
John
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We spent an interesting dinner with the owner of an RV park in Destruction Bay, YT. He said the neighboring RV Park had recently closed; and we saw a few others along the way that looked closed. He figured their business was down more than 20% from previous years.
That's sad, because I suspect many of the park owners have been doing that for decades....and their options for employment or income elsewhere are limited, to say the least?
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If we sell our house in a few years it would be a good opportunity to take off for the summer. And since he wants to sell the house, I'll leverage that motive for all it's worth! 
