Alaska Launches Ad Drive as Spill Hurts Tourism : Cruises, Tours Suffer, Even Though Far From Damage

Not one drop of crude oil has washed up on the beach at the Alaskan resort of Waterfall, 850 miles southeast of the disastrous oil spill in Prince William Sound.

But that didn’t make any difference to a group of 30 oil-wary individuals who canceled their stay at the $550-a-day resort. “If they are paying that much and if there is any indication that something will be wrong, they will cancel,” said Pete Gherini Jr., managing partner of the resort on heavily forested Prince of Wales Island.

The oil spill spawned by the tanker Exxon Valdez two months ago not only inflicted severe environmental damage but has hurt Alaska’s tourism industry as well. Last week, the state launched a $4-million campaign, paid for by Exxon and featuring the image of Marilyn Monroe, aimed at preventing serious damage to the industry and dispelling the notion that all of Alaska has been soaked in oil.

Alaskans have good reason to be protective of their tourist industry. Tourism is the state’s third-largest industry, behind oil and commercial fishing. About 750,000 visitors--20% from California--travel to Alaska each year and spend $1 billion.

“Last year was a big year for Alaska,” said Rich Skinner, spokesman for Holland America Lines-Westours, the state’s largest cruise ship operator, which carried 79,000 passengers in 1988. “And this year, knock on wood, still looks like it will be a big year for Alaska.”

However, weeks of intense media attention on the spill and unfamiliarity with Alaska’s geography have triggered cancellations and slowed the pace of bookings all over the state, said industry officials. Not surprising, particularly hard hit have been companies operating in Prince William Sound.

“We were hit pretty badly when it started,” said Rick Delaney, office manager at Quest Charters & Tours, which conducts wildlife tours of the sound, home to sea bird rookeries and sea lion colonies. “Our reservations fell to nothing for about a month.”

A tour last week found no signs of oil, said Delaney, who noted that the group spotted about two dozen bald eagles. But reservations are still running behind last year and a half-day tour might be scrapped. “It’s still pretty bad,” he said.

Demand for Cruises Off

“There have been no cancellations, but bookings are slightly softer than last year,” said Parveen Hughes, spokeswoman for Admiral Cruises, whose ship, the Stardancer, is more than 700 miles away from the spill at its closest point. “We feel it’s the result of the oil spill.”

Travel agents in Los Angeles said also that demand for Alaska cruises is off from last year.

“People aren’t calling up for Alaska like they did last year,” said Bill Miles, assistant manager of Cruise Holidays. “A lot of people call up and are asking the question, ‘Are we going to see where the oil spill happened?’ It’s hard to gauge until you go and see for yourself.”

Duke Butler, owner of Spur of the Moment Cruises in Culver City, which acts as a clearinghouse for unsold cruise tickets, said there are cabins available even in usually booked July and August. “All of a sudden, we have been getting much more space,” said Butler. “This has been quite surprising to us.”

Yet tourist officials, while loath to appear insensitive to the environmental damage, say the oil spill has been limited to a relatively tiny portion of Alaska’s coastline and about 20% of the sound itself.

Furthermore, many of the two dozen cruise ships that ply the Alaskan waters during the summer don’t even come near the area. Those that do traditionally have taken a route that has not been damaged with crude oil.

“From the television coverage you would think that the entire state was devastated, and that’s not true,” said Skinner at Holland America Line.

Some Misperceptions

“We think it’s very amusing that Fairbanks would ever be affected by the oil spill,” said Janet Halvarson, director of the local visitor and convention bureau, who noted that the city lies 300 miles north and inland from Prince William Sound. Nevertheless, some tourists have canceled their trips to the area, she said.

It’s such incidents that persuaded the Alaskan tourist industry to take action and head off further damage.

“There haven’t been a great number of cancellations, and we want to make sure it stays that way,” said Dana Brockway, executive director of the Alaska Visitors Assn., the state’s tourist industry trade group.

Most of the state’s $4-million effort will be devoted to a nationwide television and print campaign featuring the image of Marilyn Monroe sans her beauty mark. “Unless you look long and hard, you probably won’t notice her beauty mark is missing,” reads the print ad.

“Without it, the picture may have changed, but her beauty hasn’t,” the ad says. “The same is true of Alaska. The oil spill may have temporarily changed a small part of the picture, but the things you come here to see and do are as beautiful as ever.”

State-Sponsored Visits

In addition to the ad campaign, Gov. Steve Cowper is scheduled to praise the state’s scenery during appearances in Seattle, New York, Phoenix and Chicago.

The state is also paying expenses for travel and outdoor sports writers to visit the state in hopes that they will carry the message to readers. (The Times and many other papers do not allow staff reporters to accept free trips.)

Some tourist businesses have benefited from the spill. John Dolan of Eagle Custom Tours in Anchorage has kept busy ferrying Coast Guard and Exxon employees to and from Valdez, which has become a tourist attraction itself. Vendors on the waterfront hawk T-shirts covered with oil-stained hand prints.

Dolan has also gotten a few calls from tourists who want to see the oil-damaged areas of Prince William Sound. “People are kind of strange,” said Dolan, but “they want to see things like that.”