Alaska Urges Australians to Venture to Arctic Circle for ‘Wintry Version of the Outback’

Photo Credit: APA total of 36,000 Australian tourists visited Alaska in the summer of 2011 – the year Australia overtook the UK to become the state’s biggest market – and numbers are increasing every year.

Visit Anchorage vice-president for tourism development and sales, David Kasser, said Australians visiting America’s largest and most remote state tended to stay longer than their international counterparts – an average two to three weeks. They also tend to be older and wealthier, making them good spenders.

However, he said Australian tourism was dominated by cruises along the Inside Passage in the state’s southeast, with 96 per cent of visitors travelling there.

In contrast, the second most popular region – south central – attracted just 29 per cent of Australian tourists.

“I like to call the seven-day Inside Passage Cruise the Alaska Starter Cruise,” said Kasser, who was in Australia this week to promote his state.

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