ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Just a few months after a redesigned TravelAlaska.com launched with expanded information on Alaska Native cultures and tourism opportunities, the Alaska Travel Industry Association (ATIA) is releasing a brand new Alaska Native Culture Guide.

The guide will be unveiled Tuesday at ATIA’s Annual Convention in Sitka, which is the largest annual gathering of Alaska tourism professionals in the state.

Available in both in print and digital formats, the guide includes a regional map of Alaska’s 229 federally and state recognized tribes, and then shares:

• Common greetings in several Indigenous languages
• Alaska Native events
• Alaska Native values, traditions and stories
• Cultural tours, experiences, museums and heritage sites
• Indigenous culinary opportunities
• Ways to support Alaska Native businesses and artisans
• A traveler’s etiquette 

The guide was developed in collaboration with ATIA’s Cultural Enrichment Subcommittee and written largely by two committee members, Alaskan Dream Cruises’ Regional Catalyst for Regional Tourism Mary Goddard (Tlingit) and Alaska Native Heritage Center’s President and CEO Emily Edenshaw (Yup’ik and Iñupiaq).

“It was important to us to give our Alaska Native tourism leaders the space to share what they felt travelers needed to know about visiting Alaska and experiencing its Indigenous cultures,“ said ATIA President & CEO Sarah Leonard. ATIA is the only statewide nonprofit association for travel and tourism in Alaska.

Most images in the guide are by Alaska Native photographers. The guide also incorporates several designs used on the website. These graphics are inspired by Alaska Native jewelry, blankets, knives and more that were developed in partnership with an Alaska Native designer and ATIA’s Cultural Enrichment Subcommittee.

“Alaska always has been and always will be a Native place,” Edenshaw said. “It’s exciting to see resources like this cultural guide be developed so travelers can learn about Alaska’s First Peoples and our beautiful, living and vibrant cultures.”

Travelers can find the Alaska Native Culture Guide inside the Alaska Vacation Planner. Request a planner online here, or find it online here.

About the Alaska Travel Industry Association

The Alaska Travel Industry Association, Alaska’s leading statewide nonprofit membership association for the travel industry, promotes Alaska’s tourism industry as an economic contributor while providing statewide marketing resources, education opportunities and advocacy to members. ATIA has long managed Alaska’s destination marketing program: Travel Alaska. For more information, visit www.alaskatia.org.

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