From THE ALASKA BEACON
By James Brooks
Alaskabeacon.com
Southeast Alaska, home to the core of Alaska’s tourism industry, has largely recovered from the economic disaster caused by COVID-19, but the region still has fewer jobs than it did before the start of the pandemic.
Complete recovery may happen in 2023, attendees of Southeast Conference, a regional economic and local government conference, were told Tuesday in Ketchikan.
“We’re building back, but we’re not entirely there yet,” said Meilani Schijvens of Rain Coast Data, an economic firm that focuses on Southeast Alaska.
Scott Habberstad, chair of the Alaska Travel Industry Association Board of Directors, was cautiously optimistic.
“There’s a lot of opportunity…
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