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Skagway struggles to sustain year-round life as cruise visitors leave
Skagway’s 1,100 year-round residents face a sharp contrast between the summer cruise season and winter, when visitors and many seasonal workers leave. The town’s mayor says the growing reliance on cruise tourism is making it harder to sustain everyday services and a stable community, while leaving Skagway vulnerable if the industry falters.
More than 1.35 million cruise passengers and over half a million crew visited in 2025, with numbers rising each year. The town has 644 recorded housing units, and residents say seasonal workers are increasingly housed in crowded bunkhouses, homes, tents, motorhomes and even hammocks in the woods. Skagway’s narrow valley, limited road access and lack of room to expand make it difficult to add housing and infrastructure.
In short
- Cruise visitors and crew vastly outnumber Skagway’s year-round residents.
- The seasonal boom puts pressure on housing and local services.
- Residents worry the town is too dependent on cruise tourism.
Read the full article at the source →
Originally published by The Guardian as “This small Alaska town is swamped by cruise ship visitors every summer. But what happens when they all go home?”.