“A provocative tool for thinking about the hard, prickly issues surrounding cruise ship tourism, how to unpack them and determine what good collective solutions may be. The film is useful to students and to places looking at similar challenges to see how this community grappled with a “Cruise Boom” and the unanswered questions that still remain.”
“This film is about how politics, economic systems and issues of commerce are experienced by people. I think it’s rare and important to look at big questions through the lens of people living their daily life and seeing where that daily life intersects with global systems.”
“It’s a documentary about the dramatic shift our community is facing in not just our tourist industry, but our culture and identity, the health of our wilderness and the independent fishing industry.”
About the Film
A new boom in visitors tests a small Alaskan town’s infrastructure and the community’s vision of itself.
Cruise tourism has rebounded since its COVID downturn, and Alaskan cruises are at an all time high. Visitors are excited to see whales, eagles, bears and the majestic landscapes of this northern state. But what does the arrival of a cruise ship look like from the other side, from the towns that are flooded with visitors?
The film explores the complexities of growth and change in Sitka, Alaska, home to the Lingít Aaní (Tlingit). It’s a town surrounded by mountains and ocean, with a large mom and pop fishing fleet and a pulp mill that shut down years ago. Cruise Boom is about a place confronted with a situation it did not plan for working together to make it work, provoking questions about how a community guides its future, how much tourism is enough and who benefits from the industry.
Our goal with Cruise Boom is a film that works for multiple audiences, near and far, as we’ve done with films like Eating Alaska and Tracing Roots.
As of May 2024, that has included community screenings in coastal Alaskan communities, college campus events and classroom use, and a PBS broadcast in the works.
“This film ignited all of the questions, concerns, joys and fears that it was meant to.”
“Cruise Boom addresses the conflicts and contradictions that local people face when the global tourism industry arrives at their doorstep, or in this case, on their shores. This film unpacks the complicated choices that one community in Alaska is making to balance the economic opportunities tourism can provide with the desire to sustain healthy communities and the environment.”
Atman Mehta, left, and Ellen Frankenstein film footage for Cruise Boom
If you would like a 14 day, 1 year, 3 year or life of file streaming license to use at a college, corporation, K-12 school, library, or community group, you can do so through New Day Films.