Shauntel Bruner-Alvanna is on a mission to put Nome on the map for travelers in Alaska and the Lower 48.
But her approach is not solely focused on growth. Bruner-Alvanna wants to be sure change in Nome matches the needs and values of the western Alaska community.
“My job is to bring people up here,” she said. “But it’s not going to be beneficial if we’re not all happy about it. I want our community to benefit before the visitors do.”
Bruner-Alvanna wears two hats, she’s in charge of Nome’s Visitor Center and recently became the executive director of the Nome Chamber of Commerce.
As Nome progresses toward a massive port expansion, Bruner-Alvanna traveled to Juneau to learn from other communities that have undergone similar changes. At the Alaska Travel Industry Association (ATIA) convention she met with 18 visitor centers and travel organizations. She said that despite Nome’s relatively small size, the city of 3,600 packed a punch.
“I feel like even though we were most definitely the tiniest fish in that little sea, we had the biggest stuff to offer,” Bruner-Alvanna said.
She said that while other parts of the state slow down during the winter, Nome comes alive, making it a great tourist destination year-round.
“We already do this in Nome, we're so cool. If you want to come up for community events, November, December. If you want to come up for Iditarod, Iron Dog, the Serum Run, January to March. Spring breakup, birding. It's just phenomenal,” Bruner-Alvanna said.
While in Juneau, Bruner-Alvanna noted the difference that amenities, such as public restrooms and detailed signage, make for the visitor experience. She said Juneau’s well-developed tourism infrastructure provided her with a blueprint for enhancements that could improve Nome’s appeal.
But she said she also views Juneau as a cautionary tale.
“Down in Juneau everything shuts down in October because most of it's owned by cruise ships. That doesn't cater to my community,” Bruner-Alvanna explained. “If I'm not protecting small businesses, and if people here don't want people here, I'm not doing my job.”
The other problem Bruner-Alvanna recognized is striking the right balance between prosperity and cultural preservation. At ATIA she said there was a big push for “cultural tourism”, but in Nome that carries a different weight.
“I have mixed feelings about this,” she said. “In Nome, it's not cultural tourism. It's just tourism because we're still Indigenous. But that's not the norm in all of the state.”
To ensure Indigenous voices are brought into the tourism and commerce conversation, Bruner-Alvanna is making changes she says are long overdue.
“What I've been doing up here is spearheading a lot of things to help other places incorporate Indigenous voices in ways that haven't been executed before,” Bruner-Alvanna said. “For example, the first thing is a visitor guide. This will be the first year that I have an Indigenous person helping me edit and review the material that is in there.”
Bruner-Alvanna is also trying to think creatively about ways to drive new visitors to Nome, a city notably off of the road system. She said a model like Icelandair’s Stopover program, which allows for multi-day layovers, would be a great way for visitors to the state to add on a trip to Nome.
“That I think would be incredible, because it's allowing people the accessibility of seeing the diversity of the state,” Bruner-Alvanna said.
In early November, Bruner-Alvanna also travelled to Las Vegas to attend the Alaska Media Road Show. There she spoke with travel writers and representatives from publications including National Geographic and Frommer’s.
She hopes to keep the campaign going by attending the Heritage & Cultural Tourism Conference in Fairbanks next March.
In part inspired by the late Richard Beneville, whom Bruner-Alvanna credits as a mentor and father figure, in this new dual-role she looks forward to advocating for the things that make Nome special.
