President Biden signed the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act, legislation that restarts part of the 2021 Alaska cruise season from Seattle.
The act waives the requirement in U.S. law that a foreign-owned and flagged ship, which most cruise ships are, cannot transport passengers directly between American ports for the 2021 season.
The way around that law previously has been to make a stop in Canada. But with Canada banning any cruise ships from its ports through February of 2022, the State of Alaska needed a workaround.
“They will now have an opportunity to help our economy that has been smacked hard by COVID,” said Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski after leaving the signing at the White House.
“Obviously, the sector benefits both Washington and Alaska,” Washington Senator Maria Cantwell added. She is chair of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
In 2019, the Port of Seattle counted more than 1.2 million cruise passengers, an industry the port estimates is worth nearly $1 billion to the Seattle economy.
The pandemic completely wiped out the 2020 cruise season.