Alaska Native Voices Consulting tailors tourism programs to suit the growing demands placed on destinations and providers. Emphasis is placed on helping communities effectively and respectfully share their cultural knowledge. Alaska Native Voices consultants use their expertise to provide clients with guidance and direction to highlight a culture’s unique experiences and convey them in a meaningfu
l and desirable way to visitors. Programs must balance cultural integrity with visitor expectations. The methods used open the door for travelers to explore and understand their relationships to sites, landscapes and human perspectives on a deeper level. Overall, programs help empower tour operators and cultural tourism destinations because they equip them with the ability to serve not only their community, but also their visitors. Consultants are closely involved with the Cultural Heritage Guide program in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve and Icy Strait Point, an Alaska Native cruise destination and an innovator in Alaska cultural tourism. Consultants draw upon these experiences and share practical lessons, in planning, delivery and partnership building with shareholders as well as with the National Park Service and government agencies on a local, state and federal level. Alaska Native Voices Interpretive Services has shared a cultural perspective of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve with visitors since 2000. Tlingit Cultural Heritage Guides spend full days aboard cruise ships as well as hosting cultural presentations at Glacier Bay Lodge each May through September. A total of 218 cultural programs were provided in 2014 which deepen visitors’ cultural connections to the park. Guides contrast historical and contemporary Tlingit culture through presentations, song, storytelling, language, informal interaction, displays of art and craftsmanship and provide personal perspectives, allowing visitors to grasp a greater sense of place and a meaningful understanding of Native culture.
