A new visitor industry report suggests there’s too many short-term rentals in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Local hotels are also seeing more vacancies compared to last year, the report says.
It was released by tourism marketing agency Explore Fairbanks last Friday. The report says occupancy rates in Airbnbs and VRBOs are low – and getting lower: They dropped by 4% – from 37% last year to 33% this year.
And the number of listings have increased dramatically – by about 20% – over the same period, according to the findings.
Explore Fairbanks CEO Scott McCrea said in an interview that likely means supply is simply outpacing demand.
“So I think it’ll be interesting to see in the coming months if there’s a tapering off of people who went into this, who might [now] gravitate toward longer-term availability,” he said.
The report also shows a 5% decrease in occupancy rates at hotels and motels when comparing last year to this year, from 68% to 63%. That quantifies a trend local hoteliers said they were seeing when they spoke at public meetings earlier this summer.
In June, several visitor industry leaders and stakeholders testified against an ordinance introduced by the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly that would have put a ballot question to borough voters about increasing the local bed tax.
“Needless to say, it’s tough in the tourist business right now,” said Bernie Karl, who runs Chena Hot Springs Resort, just before the assembly voted down the ordinance. “And having – raising these taxes is just to me a form of insanity, just total insanity.”
In May, the World Travel and Tourism Council released a report that found the U.S. was on track to lose about $12.5 billion in international visitor spending this year.
McCrea said it’s difficult to pinpoint what’s behind the decline locally, whether that be economic uncertainty, international strife or other factors.
“In talking to my colleagues in this industry across the country, there’s, you know – visitation is down right now. The specific reason why is hard to put a finger on, “ he said. “It’s just the status of the tourism industry in general.”
But not everything is trending down in the Fairbanks area. According to the report, arrivals and departures at the Fairbanks International Airport stayed pretty steady, with a 1% increase. And the number of passengers traveling to and from Fairbanks on the Alaska Railroad also went up 5% from 2024 to 2025.
The report also says bookings for the winter season are promising. McCrea said that divergence may be because the aurora viewing season tends to attract different clientele to Fairbanks.
“With the winter visitors, we tend to see a higher spending visitor, I think – people who are not as budget conscious as summer visitors are,” he said.