Alaskan Cruise Tax Challenge

In the past year, many cruise lines have cut back on the number of cruises that travel to Alaska because, they claim, the extra passenger tax designed to help protect the delicate eco-system of the region is cutting into their ability to run cost effective cruises. One sign of this change is that more ships are home-porting in Seattle, rather than Vancouver

Now, the cruise industry says it will mount a legal challenge to the tax, saying that it is causing a collapse in the business that could be reinvigorated if the tax was removed, encouraging more tourism in the area and promoting both travel growth and business sustainability in an area that has been particularly hard hit by the global recession. The tax was approved by Alaskan citizens in 2006.