At least 13 reality series have been filmed in Alaska, making the landscapes familiar to Aussie audiences, yet there’s so much more to know about this massive state. As the gateway to epic adventures, Visit Anchorage busts some myths about Alaska’s largest city to help you inspire clients.
Australia is now the number two international source market for Visit Anchorage (just behind close neighbours Canada, so it doesn’t count) with 14 per cent of Australians who intend to visit the US interested in visiting Alaska, according to Brand USA.
In fact, Visit Anchorage’s Head of Tourism Sales Tia Froehle said 1.7 million people are expected to take an Alaskan cruise in 2025 for the biggest cruise season to date.
“The majority of visitors to Anchorage come across the Gulf of Alaska on a cruise from Vancouver in Canada to the Southcentral Alaska ports of Whittier and Seward,” she said.
“They cruise to Anchorage, then disembark and fly out. So, the more agents know about Anchorage, the more advantage they have to seize the opportunity to sell more.”
Here’s seven ways to counter any preconceptions about Anchorage:
1. It’s too remote and hard to get to
Okay, so let’s get this one out of the way. With Hawaiian Airlines now part of Alaska Airlines, integrated operations mean better connectivity for Australians to Alaska than ever before. Aussies can fly from Australia to Anchorage via Honolulu, shaving five hours off their flight.
Froehle recently flew Alaska Airlines from Anchorage to Honolulu and onwards with Hawaiian to Sydney – around 21.5 hours with layover time.
“We have more airlift to the US, and connections are better than ever before. With this new Hawaiian connection, that’s five hours of flight time you can save clients connecting to Anchorage,” she said.
2. You can only visit in the summer months
Alaska has a rep as a summertime destination (mid-May to early September) due to cruising, but Visit Anchorage wants you to know you can visit all year round.
You can see the Northern Lights from autumn through to spring, go leaf-peeping in fall, ski in winter and early spring, try glacier trekking, ice fishing and snowmobiling in winter, spy wildlife and whales from mid-March and road trip all year round, plus much more.
“A lot of people think we are a summertime destination, but we are so much more than that. There’s something special every month,” Froehle said.
“Pretty much everything that happens in the summer can be done in the wintertime – except for viewing the bears because they are sleeping,” she added.
“Alaska is in the top three destinations in the world to see the Northern Lights, so if that is something that your clients are interested in, tell them to look at Alaska.”
3. It’s too cold and dark
“Sometimes when people think about Alaska, they’re a little bit timid – they think it’s cold and dark, even in the summer,” Froehle said.
In reality, Anchorage in July brings up to 21.5 hours of daylight and average temps of up to 18°C. In January, the maximum daily average is around -5C and eight hours of daylight.
“If your clients want to come in mid-June, we’ll tell you about the summer solstice and that we’re going to be dancing under the sun for 22 hours that day,” Froehle added.
Take that for cold and dark!
4. Anchorage is just a cruise port stop
Anchorage is actually the ideal pre- and post-cruise destination, allowing travellers to make the city their home base to explore Southcentral Alaska via the Alaska Railroad, tours or day trips.
“Whether your clients have one night or one week in Anchorage, we’ve got an itinerary for that,” Froehle said.
“We say three nights in Anchorage is ideal, because you can use the city as a base camp – like a cruise, simply unpack once and stay at one of our great hotels and have all these cool adventures during the day.
“Anchorage has some of the most accessible outdoor adventures in the state. There’s 60 glaciers within a two-hour radius, cultural immersion at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, bear viewing at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and some 1,500 urban moose.”
5. Anchorage doesn’t have big-city amenities
Located within Denaʼina Ełnena on the traditional homelands of the Dena’ina Athabascan people and the Native Village of Eklutna, Anchorage combines wild beauty with convenient city comforts. It’s full of art, adventure, culture, food and wildlife, not to mention tax-free shopping.
“As the largest city in Alaska, of course, Anchorage has all the urban amenities you would expect, but we’re wild too – surrounded by wilderness, mountains and trails within seconds, and we’re on the water, so there is something for everyone,” Froehle said.
“People are often surprised at the number of incredible restaurants, events happening almost every day of the week, our indigenous culture and the friendliness of locals. Anchorage is a really great place for all of that.”
5. It’s only for adventurous travellers
With much of Alaska only accessible by boat or plane, and reality shows like Ice Truckers and Deadliest Catch, you’d be forgiven for thinking Anchorage is only for adrenaline-seeking types.
Anchorage has soft adventure options on offer, too, with tour transportation to take you there. You can go on food or brewery tours, photography tours, guided hiking, rent bikes and flightseeing all year round. In summer, visitors can golf, kayak and horse ride, while winter months offer fat tire biking, snowshoeing, ice-skating, sleigh rides and ice fishing.
Anchorage is also easy to get around with free shuttles to attractions, a public bus, rideshare and taxi services and a walkable downtown.
6. You can’t see the Northern Lights in the city
Yes, you can! Unlike other destinations where you have to venture out of the city limits to find a dark sky environment, on a clear night, you can spy the aurora borealis right in Anchorage.
“Our aurora tour operators know the best places to go, so if they see a little cloud in Anchorage, they might head north or south a little bit to see the Northern Lights,” Froehle said.
“Anchorage hotels will also do ‘aurora wake-up calls’ and tell you to look outside your window now,” Tourism Sales Manager Katy Ouellette chimed in.
“If you want the aurora cabin experience, you can be in a beautiful cabin in the middle of a forest, just 30 minutes from Anchorage, for a remote feel but not be remote at all.”
7. There’s more males than females in Alaska
Okay, so this myth is a little bit correct; however, the saying about dating in Alaska: “The odds are good, but the goods are odd” is no longer skewed towards a higher male-to-female ratio because of remote industries such as oil, gas and fishing.
There is still the AlaskaMen magazine, which started as an annual coffee table catalogue for single male locals looking for love.
But while the ratio is still higher than the US national average, there are now around 108 men to every 100 women in Alaska and even closer in urban areas, such as Anchorage.
What Visit Anchorage will attest to, though, is how friendly the locals are. But if you are keen to paw through a catalogue to compare physical attributes, there is the always-popular Fat Bear Week, an annual celebration to vote on the chonkiest resident of Katmai National Park. So far, Grazer, a two-time female winner, has the 2024 Fat Bear crown.
But wait, there’s more…
Here are three ways to find out more and sell more Anchorage.
- Access the online Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska official travel trade planner and discover a wealth of info, including curated itineraries and commissionable product for various activities, from fishing tours to guided glacier experiences.
- Reach out directly to Visit Anchorage’s trade representation in Australia via info@canuckiwi.com or tourism@anchorage.net to connect clients to local tour operators and discover commissionable product.
- Complete the Anchorage Wild Expert (AWE) program to expand your destination knowledge and qualify for upcoming famil opportunities.
“We like to get advisors up to Southcentral Alaska to experience it all, because once they visit and see everything Anchorage has to offer, they love it and can create itineraries for their clients with more product and earn more commission,” Froehle said.
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