The Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development (DCCED) recently released the Economic Impact of Alaska's Visitor Industry report, which showed that tourism in Alaska continued to grow during 2015, reaching an all-time high of 1.78 million out-of-state visitors between May and September 2015. Between summers 2014 and 2015, visitor volume went up by 7 percent – increasing from 1,659,600 to 1,780,000 and is expected to keep rising. The 2015 summer visitor volume was the highest ever recorded since the Alaska Visitor Statistic Program began tracking in 1985.

Whether it's by plane, highway, ferry or cruise ship visitors are flocking to Alaska and all four of these modes of transportation play in important role:

• Air traffic is the largest form of transportation for visitors to Alaska and contributed to this growth by 13 percent, bringing in over 702,600 people, seeing its strongest growth since 2010.
• While highway and ferry traffic usually accounts for a smaller portion of growth, it showed the largest increase at 14 percent, reporting an increase in personal vehicle traffic on all four highways connecting the ALCAN (Alaska-Canadian Hwy).
• Cruise volume increased by three percent as larger ships replaced smaller ones, and this trend is expected to continue as five new large ships have been added to the fleet for summer 2016. Based on itineraries already planned, growth is projected to increase by more than two percent in 2016. Cross-gulf cruises were up by nine percent, shore excursion stayed strong and Alaska's small ship market toured 15,000 passengers in 2015.

While U.S. travel markers showed growth in the industry between 2014 and 2015, Alaska's travel area grew at a faster rate than the rest of the country. This is important, as Alaska's visitor industry is vital to the state's economy making an impact of $3.9 billion annually. Tourism also generates $179 million for the state and employees 46,000 people during the peak seasons.

For more information on traveling in Alaska, visit www.TravelAlaska.com.