Travel restrictions are bad news for the tourism industry in Alaska.
They make it difficult for travelers to access places like museums and historical sites, and they make it hard for businesses to thrive.
The state has had an abundance of places to visit for decades, and its tourism industry relies on the help of visitors from around the world to survive.
But a recent lawsuit alleges that Alaska’s restrictions are having a negative impact on the tourism economy, and it’s time the state addressed the problem.
“If you can’t visit the state and you can only visit places in the capital of the state, then you’re going to see a loss in tourism revenue,” said Sarah Richey, a senior vice president with the Alaska Chamber of Commerce.
“That’s a very real concern for Alaska.
And that’s a concern for the rest of the country as well.”
In 2016, Alaska passed a law that requires tourists to have a valid travel document that has an expiration date of at least 30 days.
This rule was put in place to prevent travelers from going through airport security lines without a valid document, and travelers are required to present one.
But some travel agencies and hotels have begun refusing to process Alaska’s passports.
Travelers have also reported being denied entry to many of Alaska’s most popular places.
It’s a huge blow to the tourism business, said Richeys.
“It’s really a big blow for our business,” she said.
A bill passed last year by the Legislature would have banned tourists from using a non-alaska-issued passport for travel within the state.
It also would have given the state authority to issue visas for tourists traveling to certain places in Alaska without a passport.
In 2016 alone, the state had around $6.6 million in revenue from tourism.
That’s less than half the $16.5 million in state revenue from the federal government that year.
But it is a significant amount of money.
In Alaska, tourism accounts for about 25 percent of the total economy, according to a 2016 report from the Alaska Business Alliance.
The state is also home to more than 300,000 people who live overseas, which makes up more than one-third of the U.S. population.
The travel ban was supposed to have been put into place earlier this year, but the legislation has been stalled in the Legislature.
It’s currently set to expire at the end of the month.
Richey says the law is being used as a political football.
“We’re going through this as a business, and we’re going on the attack to make sure that we have a better understanding of what’s going on,” she told ABC News.
“We’re all going to have to make a decision on whether or not we want to stay in the business and be a part of it.”ABC News’ Lauren D’Angelo contributed to this report.