Haines featured travel destination in NY Times

When Michelle Glass, tourism director for the Haines Borough, came to work Monday, one of the first e-mails she sent was to a public relations firm she sometimes works with in Anchorage.

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"I sent them an e-mail asking how much we would have had to pay for media coverage like that," said Glass.

The media coverage was priceless: an article on the front page of the New York Times travel section published Sunday.

"Live, it's 'Northern Exposure,' " was written by California-based writer Cheryll Aimee Barron. It was joined by two other articles on Alaska destinations in the section: one on a cabin trip near Cordova and another on a guided climb of Mount McKinley.

In Haines, Barron found the solution to a problem that bothers many independent visitors to Alaska. She wrote:

"How does someone not rich or retired, with little more than a week to spare, get a true taste of this land of marvels, the essentials of the Alaskan experience, including eccentric accommodation?"

One does it by traveling to Haines, she wrote, and staying in places such as the Beach Roadhouse at 1 mile Haines Road, or at the Hotel Halsingland at what remains of Fort William H. Seward.

These places are an ideal base for the fishing, hiking and wilderness viewing offered by Haines, Barron wrote. She was unable to be reached for comment on her article.

Barron described the Alaskans she met as having "aggressive independence and a wild and woolly individualism that the male population advertises with beards. Women tend to wear clothes that seem to express a commendable wish to snub every fashion trend of the last 25 years."

The New York Times article, which is appearing in other newspapers nationwide through the New York Times News Service, will help Haines foster a reputation as a haven for independent travelers, Glass said.

"Haines is developing its reputation as this little gem of a place, a place you might not have heard of but that's definitely worth seeing," Glass said. "We're the perfect kind of place for hosting a few thousand people a week."

Features in large national publications are the best way for small businesses in Haines, operating on limited budgets, to get exposure with potential travelers, said Glass.

"For us, being in a small bureau, we get a lot of bang for our buck out of public relations and media because the return on investment is so much greater," she said.

Though what prods travel writers to feature Haines is sometimes a mystery - Barron wrote her article without contacting anybody at the Haines Convention and Visitors Bureau - the agency does court writers at special conferences and through the Alaska Travel Industry Association, Glass said.

Haines' exposure in national media has increased this year, Glass said. The National Geographic Adventure magazine plans to run a piece on bike trips around Haines this February, and an article is planned for Alaska Magazine.

Barron made her trip to Haines in May 2002, said Jeff Butcher, who owns the Hotel Halsingland with his wife Shannon. She visited without telling the Butchers she was a writer, then called back several months later to interview Jeff for the story.

"It was a surprise - it was an extremely pleasant surprise," said Jeff Butcher. "It was neat that someone just happened along and took such great interest in what we're doing in the property."

• Christine Schmid can be reached at cschmid@juneauempire.com.