Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 9

164 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 9 an tional Airport LINKING NORTH AND SOUTH ALASKA T he City of Ketchikan is the southernmost entry point to the famed Inside Passage, a series of waterways that snakes through the stunning wilderness that is Alaska. On one side a port, on the other lush rainforest, Ketchikan has been both home and a popular place to visit since the Tlingit peoples first gave it a name, Kitschk-hin, which either means “The River Belonging to the Kitschk” or “Thundering Wings of an Eagle”– a nod to the fact that there are more bald eagles here than anywhere else in the northern region. The area also happens to boast the largest collection of standing totem poles in the world. Today, the city is a beautiful nod to both past and present, with a bustling downtown featuring authentic wooden sidewalks and staircases leading from shop to shop, or down to the six cruise ship terminals. It is also an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise nestled on an island in the Pacific. In an area historically known for fishing, forestry and aviation, the Ketchikan International Airport continues to serve as one of the major airports of the northernmost state, but also as the chief link to southern Alaska. “Before COVID, our tourism was growing year