The World Heritage West Norwegian Fjord Landscape on a study trip to Alaska
Inspirerande, storslagent og lærerikt
- a travel letter by Merete Løvoll Rønneberg from the study trip to Glacier Bay, Alaska.
For just over a week, a delegation from the world heritage site Vestnorsk Fjordlandskap has been on a study trip to Glacier Bay, a world heritage site in Alaska that has a lot in common with our own world heritage site. The aim of the trip was to learn more about how they managed their area, how cruise traffic was regulated and organised, and how they carried out communication. Along the way, we visited several cruise destinations, and we got a closer look at several of the offers and experiences travelers encounter in these areas.
The delegation was composed to provide broad professional grounding:
From the Geirangerfjord area:
- Katrin Blomvik, Site coordinator and director of Stiftinga Geirangerfjorden Verdsarv
- Jan Ove Tryggestad, nestleiar i verdsarvrådet og ordførar i Stranda kommune
- Willy J. Loftheim, chairman of Stiftinga Geirangerfjorden Verdsarv and assistant county councilor in Møre og Romsdal
- Merete Løvoll Rønneberg, communication manager
From the Nærøyfjord area:
- Erling Oppheim, Site koordinator og dagleg leiar i Nærøyfjorden Verdsarvpark
- Noralv Distad, mayor of Aurland municipality and chairman of the Aurland Port Authority
- Anbjørg Nornes, verneområdeforvaltar i Nærøyfjorden landskapsvernområde m.fl.
- Odd Rune Turvoll, business manager in Vik municipality
Others:
- Bjørn Pedersen, avdelingsdirektør i Sjøfartsdirektoratet
- Sandra Bratland, day-to-day manager of Cruise Norway
Saturday 25 June: The world's first land tram system
After 28-29 hours of travel the day before, we were all out of our berths at 5 o'clock in the morning: the program was tight, and we started at the port in Juneau to see the world's first facility for land current. The facility was established in 2001, and it was the cruise industry itself that took the initiative for the facility. The wish was a more environmentally friendly port. We got to see how the actual connection to shore current happens - a process that took around 1 ½ hours on this ship, but it usually goes much faster as newer ships have more modern systems. The company that owns and operates the power plant itself is private.
In Juneau, they welcome almost 400 cruise ships annually. Of the ships coming here this year, barely 90 can connect to shore current, and one of the challenges with shore current is different connection systems.
Connection to land power requires accurate process costs
While we were on the ship, we got to both hear about and see how the waste management on the cruise ship takes place. Skipa are in themselves small (large!) communities that themselves have to deal with a whole series of challenges. In the waste sorting room it was surprisingly clean and tidy - something that was a conscious strategy. Here, virtually all waste was sorted, and much was burned. Some also went to recycling. Likewise, water from showers and the like was cleaned and reused. The handling of waste and water has both an economic and an environmental side for the ship.
After the orientation on the ship, there was time for a short trip in the city of Juneau. In the port, many of the shops had a clear cruise feel, and many of them were run and partly owned by external players. When the season was over, these were closed and built standing as "empty scenery" through the winter.
After lunch we followed North America's only gondola to Mount Roberts. Bana was owned and run by a company that placed great emphasis on local value creation, and they invested a lot in helping to build up products and offers both for the local population and for the visitors. Ma had contributed funds to build a great trail network up in the mountains where the railway had the top station. Likewise, they focused on product development linked to the indigenous population in the area, the Tlingit people, and the use of local workforce.
In addition to the hiking offer, they also had a small nature center at the top station of the gondola lift: a simple combination of information and shop. They also had a wonderful film about the indigenous people - their history and how they live today. Beautiful and thought-provoking.
Sunday 26 June: Hiking and shopping
During the stay, a "day off" had been included, and it was good to get this early so that you could calm down and readjust your body after a cross-country journey and big time differences.
Many of us spent the first part of the day walking along the paths up the valley where Alaska's first road was established. The trip was partly on this road, which was naturally connected to the gold digging, and along the way we could read about the gold adventure on the many good information signs that had been put up.
The Tlingit people, the indigenous people of Alaska, were the first inhabitants of the Juneau area, and they fished and hunted here for many hundreds of years before mining began here in the 1870s. In 1880, they found large quantities of gold here, and the gold diggers flocked. This is how the city of Juneau was established. Mining reached its peak in 1915, but two years later the industry was significantly reduced: A landslide led to the destruction of large parts of the mines. But still the length of mine corridors in Mt.Roberts is longer than all the streets and vegans in Juneau combined!
Juneau has been the capital of Alaska since 1959 and has 32,000 inhabitants. It is still the case that you have to travel by boat or plane to get here, because there is no road into the city!
Both signs along the way and our local hosts firmly advised us to stick to the established paths. This was the safest - also to avoid meeting bears. When we got out, there was little to tempt with alternative road choices: the vegetation was immeasurably dense and high, and if you were to go off the paths, you had to be asked to clear your way. The plant life was very luxuriant, but then you also had a temperate rainforest here! Many species resembled those we are familiar with from home, but several were larger and taller.
Monday 27 June: Meeting with local administration and industry in Juneau
As early as 7 o'clock in the morning, we were gathered around the meeting table in Centennial Hall. It was planned for a few hours where we got to meet representatives from the municipality, the cruise industry and local businesses in Juneau. For all of us, it was very interesting to hear how they planned and thought about cruise tourism and urban development.
The cruise industry is now growing at around 2% annually in Juneau and is a major economic driver in the city. The town planner was thus very aware of how tourism affects the vast majority of conditions - everything from the need for health services and the police, to spatial planning, water supply, order and the relationship between the local population and tourism. His message was completely clear: One must listen to both the cruise industry and other players, but not swallow raw everything that is said. It is important to take leadership and fight for the values you think are important, and then you have to plan long-term - at least 20-30 years ahead.
The city has had, and still has, a certain "conflict" between residents and the cruise industry, but most people realize the importance of tourism for the city. From several sides it was pointed out how important it is to show respect for each other. One of the focus areas was to ensure the transport of cruise tourists in the most flexible way possible, and in connection with this it emerged that the city uses port fees to a greater extent than in Norway for infrastructure measures that are not necessarily located in the port area itself. The point was that there were measures that were important for managing cruise tourism.
From the business actors, we heard, among other things, how volunteers were used as hosts and information points in the city, and how Einskilde had worked to establish year-round jobs and offers. It was particularly interesting to hear how they had previously developed a "management program" and how they thought about product development, but when asked directly about the definition of tolerance limits, it turned out that they had not defined this. The answer was that when you can no longer manage cruise tourism in a good way, the limit of tolerance has been reached.
We used the afternoon first for a whale safari. A shuttle boat took us to an area where we got to see quail at close range: Fascinating with the huge animals that move so elegantly in the water.
Later we went to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Centre. The center has a strong focus on operating as sustainably as possible, and this permeates their scheme, from transport to waste sorting to communication. There was time for a quick trip to a great waterfall, not too far from the glacier front, and along the way John Neary (director of the US Forest Service and at the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center) told us about how they do their work.
Tuesday 28 June: Skagway - a meeting with the gold-digging tourism industry
Departure from the hotel at 5 in the morning and six to seven hours by ferry up to Skagway. The ferry trip was long, but also gave the opportunity to get to know the Alaskan landscape better - without a doubt one of the most magnificent and least affected by humans in the world.
Thus, the meeting with Skagway was a bit of a culture shock: Here four cruise ships were docked - two of them close to a mountainside with fresh wounds from landslides. That would hardly have happened in Norway.
First meeting with Skagway
The village of Skagway was incredibly charming. The buildings were mostly reminiscent of scenes from an older cowboy and western film, and we were snapped diligently as we strolled along the wooden pavement. The town has approximately 1,000 inhabitants and around 100 children in kindergarten/school (up to 18 years). Skagway's history is based on gold mining, and this anchoring is also evident in the tourism industry. The first gold diggers came by boat into the fjord, continued on foot over the White Pass, before traveling further inland by boat. When the rumor about the gold discovery spread at the end of the 19th century, the town attracted many hunters, but many came too late to find gold, and stayed in the town of Skagway. This is how the town was established, and how the gold diggers were in many ways the first tourists.
Orientation by the Park Ranger in Skagway
Many of the original buildings in the town are now owned by the Park Service. They are well maintained, and some have been developed into museums. Others are rented out to various businesses, some are offices, and some people actually live in them. The small village welcomes around one million cruise passengers annually, and cruises account for around 90% of the value creation in the town.
There was an interesting meeting with mayors, industry and other key people in the city this evening. Here it was clear that the cruise industry controlled most of it, and as one of those present said: "Those who don't like it, move." It didn't seem like anyone saw it as a problem.
Mike Trandel (superintendent of the Klondike Gold Rush, National Historical Park) had previously shown us around the town, and he told us that they had three central goals: Good quality of the experiences, economic viability and taking care of the town and the buildings.
Many who were present had moved here. They called it a lifestyle choice. But the city has changed a lot since the beginning of the 1970s. At that time they had 35,000 visitors annually. That is equivalent to the visit of two summer days now! A key word for them was logistics: Much was about being able to move the travelers in a flexible way - avoiding the accumulation of people and queues. In this way they also created better experiences.
Otherwise, there was a lot of focus on how much the cruise had meant to the city, and what they had gotten for the cruise money. Several pointed out how important it was that restrictions were not placed on the cruise industry so that it became difficult. Instead, you had to see your own opportunities where you were and develop attractive products based on this. The marketing director put it this way: People are mostly positive. They want joy. They want the real thing. They want to see your place.
In Skagway, too, there were many outside operators who did business in the town, and the hotel we stayed at was owned by a cruise line. The representatives from the city did not seem to be critical of these conditions, but it was thought-provoking that in the city planning they had found it necessary to reserve individual areas for the local population.
From the Norwegian side, questions were raised about the lack of local ownership, discussions about toll borders and what experiences the tourists themselves think they get. From the representatives who met us, we generally got the impression that here it is the business that applies above most (everything) else. Their scheme is primarily guided by what benefits the financial result.
Wednesday 29 June: White Pass and encounter with Glacier Bay
Train ride to White Pass
Before we left Skagway, we took with us one of the city's leading tourism products: the old railway from Skagway over the White Pass towards Canada, a line that in many ways reminds us of the Flåm Railway. The route is also called the "Scenic Railway of the World" and was completed in 1900. The railway was a much easier way to the Klondike. On the stretch from Skagway by the fjord, the train climbs steadily up the terrain, and only when we got over the most forest growth - mostly characterized by the national tree Sitka Spruce (fir) - the view was impeccable: Wild peaks, glaciers and beautiful waterfalls. Powerful! Some of us also caught a glimpse of the mountain goats in the highest area. Funny!
We ate lunch at a very pleasant guest house inside a former garden. Many of the dishes were organic and based on local ingredients, and both indoors, but especially outdoors, there was a wonderful display of flowers.
The afternoon offered one of the biggest highlights of the trip. By seaplane, we were taken from Skagway and beyond the area that makes up the world heritage of Glacier Bay. The pilot gave us a round trip over an incomparable natural landscape with huge and wild glaciers, wild peaks and green, wide fjords. With only a little knowledge of geology in mind, this was a journey where the landscape itself told the stories of how the fjord landscape was once formed here, and how it is formed in Alaska today.
Thursday 30 June: With Park Rangerane on a cruise ship
On Thursday, there was a slightly different program in the group. The undersigned was accompanied by one of the managers of the dissemination in the National Park Service and went with her to see and learn more about how they run dissemination on the cruise ship in Glacier Bay.
Natur Park ranks in action on cruise ships
The rest of the group stayed at the National Park Service center where they received presentations on how to handle the traffic of various vessels in the national park, cruise traffic, planning tools and licensing. During the day, the Norwegian delegation also had presentations on how to work in our world heritage area - both with management, development and communication.
The ladies on the trip gathered in front of the John Hopkinsen glacier: Fv Sandra, Anbjørg, Merete and tour manager Jan.
Being on the cruise ship was a great experience. The mediation concept was immeasurably wholesome and the collaboration with the captain was characterized by mutual respect. During the trip into the National Park, there was always information from one of the National Park Rangers from the bridge. At the same time, they had established a stand in a central place on the boat. Here they had different information material, but also books and other things for the classroom. During the day, a separate children's program was run, and they also ran a separate program for the adults in the cinema hall. All of this is imbued with pride, care for the values in the national park and good adaptation to the various target groups. Impressive!
To end the day, we were invited to Gustavus, where the villagers invited "the Norwegians" to an outdoor village evening. Fantastically charming, and nice to talk to the people in the tiny place that had around 350 inhabitants. Talk to me about hospitality and wonderful people!
Friday 1 July: Meeting with the wilderness
Katrin Blomvik went with the host on one of the cruise ships to take a closer look at how cruise traffic is handled in practice, and to discuss how we will take the collaboration with Glacier Bay further.
The rest of the group got to try themselves as tourists on one of the shuttle boats in Glacier Bay. The boat went close to land and islands, before entering the area marked by the huge glaciers. Along the way, the Park Rangers communicate vividly and well about what we saw and put this into a larger context. Here we also had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss management and development.
For many of us, meeting the wild animals was the strongest part of this day. From the boat, we could see wild goats grazing on a raft on an unsightly mountainside, we saw large colonies of seals rolling on the rocks and enjoying the sun's rays, waves breaking the sea surface and sending up columns of gushing water. We saw sea otters looking at us curiously or seals on their backs with a small cub on their stomachs, and sea eagles elegantly diving for fish. But the greatest thing was to experience the bears snuggled down towards the sea's edge - calm and sane, perhaps with a cub or two in tow. On top of it all, we got to see two wolves walking at the edge of the forest and eating field strawberries!
A perfect final day on a perfect trip! After this we could start our journey home. But as our wonderful host said at the closing dinner: This is not an end, but the start of an exciting collaboration where we will learn from each other, take care of important values and work for the further development of our world heritage areas together.
We have only just begun to outline an agreement on future cooperation. We think we have a lot to look forward to…
Many thanks to a wonderful host in Alaska!
Text and photo:
Merete Løvoll Rønneberg