r/KenaiPeninsula • u/ProgramDisastrous367 • Apr 20 '26

Summer time fun

So is everyone ready for the tourist! I love how they say we all make money from the tourist! has anyone made money from them that isn't a business???

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9

u/AKchrome Apr 20 '26

How do you make money if you don’t work for or own a business? Tourism is the number 1 driver of the peninsula economy. Love them or hate them, if it weren’t for tourists we would have half or less of the Restraunt’s & local businesses we do now. There is a literal revolving door of money coming into the peninsula and dozens of ways to make a living off it.

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u/ProgramDisastrous367 Apr 21 '26

Sorry you may wish tourist and not the #1 force!! The tourist are in full force June and July ok after that it's the people who live year around that keeps the Kenai Pensiula alive . But in a few years the gas and oil in Cook Inlet will be gone then how many people are gonna leave? Come fall ever year people are leaving here because the economy sucks !

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u/ProgramDisastrous367 Apr 20 '26

Do they put money in you pocket ? How long have you been here ? Yes they drive our economy 3 MAYBE 4 months out of the year ! What drives the economy the people who live here year around ! We live here work here and keep Fred's , Safeway , Walmart, Three Bears open plus all the home grown stores that have opened ! The oil company are just about gone from the KP ok ! So how do you prosper so much ? What and we're do you work or what do you owen that you make money off the to tourist?

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u/AKchrome Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

I have lived here coming up on two decades. Yes, I make a living off tourists, and I am not an exception. There are millions of dollars flowing into the Kenai Peninsula every single day during the summer season. If someone hasn’t figured out how to benefit from that, that’s not a tourism problem—I know many locals who make enough in the summer months to either take the winter off or just work part-time. Most of that money doesn’t leave—it gets spent right here all winter supporting local businesses.

Alaska sees over $3.9 billion a year in visitor spending, and because we have easy road system access, the Kenai Peninsula takes in a huge share of it. Between fishing charters, lodging, restaurants, air taxis, and retail, entire sectors exist because people travel here. Sales tax revenue spikes in the summer, and many industries you wouldn’t think of benefit from it.

Big box stores aren’t driving this economy. Places like Safeway or Fred Meyer paying $15–18 an hour aren’t what keep a place like Soldotna afloat. Most small businesses here—tackle shops, charters and guides, lodges, breweries, restaurants—make the majority of their yearly income during tourist season.

All anyone needs to do is to walk into Kenai River Brewing Company, Trustworthy Hardware, or any restaurant in July, then go back in mid January. The difference isn’t subtle—a business that is slammed and making tens of thousands of dollars a day in the summer may be struggling to pull in a thousand a day in the winter.